Hi ZfflB mffl THfi® ■Hi ■KMWMBWStti iftllSflffiKaSn msT, JHBfl ■i sm hhhL SiSlilllP :-"T.;:;i7)'.i(,'-i;JiV|-:'.-1i: w .rni,' ■ >-.j 'Ki ■'."iI,m iSjPWsa THE PIONEER SCRAP-BOOK WOOD COUNTY AND THE MAUMEE VALLEY E/e^s, c^MZ4.es w., ;i3-j~f^o9 8-1 REMINISCENCES OF PIONEER DAYS IN WOOD COUNTY AND THE MAUMEE VALLEY Gathered from the papers and manuscripts of the late C. W. Evers A PIONEER SCRAP BOOK A. FRONEY & COMPANY A name long identified with the Mercantile Interests of Wood County. It was back in 1859, April 11th of that year to be exact, that A. Prone , began his career as a dry goods merchant of Wood County and Pemberville was the place. From this time on, by hard work and honesty of purpose his mercantile progress was a success. Seeing an opening at the hub of "Old Wood" Mr Froney came to the county seat in 1«89 in which year the tirm of A. Froney & Co., was established. Today this big mercantile house stands in the front rank in the entire Northwestern Ohio, which shows what a straight forward policy, a watchful care in the interests of the people, courtesy and liberality will do to bring success. ^gEUEa35Si3E Thi. .ignature, to the Men, Women and Children of Wood County mean "Good Faith" every day in the year. ^e Plcture Frami»g Office Phones U. S. 154Blkck Bell 247 Y Residence Phones U. S. 143 B Bell 18 X 227 North Main Street Bowling Green, Ohio DIKKCTONY C iWtf BOWLING GREEN BUSINESS DIRECTORY CONTINUED MILO D. WILSON INSURANCE Bowling Green, Ohio DONAHEY & CO. Clo'hing, Men's Furnishing and everything to be found in a first class up-to-date Haberdash- ery. Satisfaction always. W. SHEPHERD BAKER The National Loaf 165 North Main Street Bowling Green, O. North Main Street, Reed and Merry Block, Bowling Green, Ohio. DR. E. A. COLE Osteopathic Physician ENGLISH BROTHERS The grocery that is up to the mark. If its in Healing by Adjustment Both Phones 163 S. Main Street Bowling Green, Ohio the market you 11 always find it at English Bros. South Main Street, Bowling Green, O. D. W. YOUNG Funeral Director Motor Ambulance Service Picture Framing Both Phones 180 South Main Street Bowling Green, Ohio E. II. FRIES CHAKLES S. HATFIELD FRIES & HATFIELD ATTORNEYS Lincoln Block Bowling Green, Ohio A. RIESS BOWLING GREEN, OHIO Makes Suits and Overcoats. If he makes yours you are well dressed. Both Phones DR. L. L. YONKER DENTIST West Wooster Street Bowling Green, Ohio Both Phones 'Everything Electrical" Lockwood Electric Shop C. R. LOCKWOOD Fixtures, Wiring, Lamps, Etc., Automobile Storage Batteries, Self-Starters and Generators Repaired 248 North Main Street BOWLING GREEN, OHIO GUS GOEBEL PAINTS and OILS STOVES and HARDWARE EaVes-1 'roughing and General Repairing Eastlake Tin Shingles FURNACE WORK A SPECIALTY U. S. Phone 128 West Wooster Street 'Bowling Green, O. ESTABLISHED 1888 iFtrst National lank BOWLING GREEN, OHIO M The Bank that gives you always the best jJt service that safety and security will allow -Xrl DIRECTORS OFFICERS H. G. HANKEY Prest. Ran key Lumber Co. M. L. DONAHEY - President ® f^HSH?" ^''^ °' *"autnga Uattk GI0. r An institution which always keeps pace with the solid growth and de- velopment of a matchless territory. OFFICERS: E. M. FRIES, President. W. M. TTJLLER, Vice-President. J. H. LINCOLN, Cashier. S. R CASE, Ass't. Cashier. DIRECTORS: W. M. Tuller E. M. Fries C. W. Lenhart S. R. Case E. 0. Sargent Frank Kabig J. C. Lincoln Wm. R. Hopper A. C. McDonald C B Eberly N. R. Harrington 4/0 paid on Savings Accounts WHY TAKE CHANCES? When you are absolutely sure of the largest and finest assortment of . . . OVERCOATS and SUITINGS I The Year id At Neimans, The Tailor Right Prices, Latest Styles, Courteous Treatment That's NEIMANS 184 South Main Street BOWLING GREEN, OHIO x0 I W «p| IT'S DRUGS >fr ^ IT'S PATENT MEDICINES ^ r^ IT'S A PRESCRIPTION lM 11 IT'S TOILET ARTICLES *J/ IT'S RUBBER GOODS Jj/ If You Want Anything found in a First Class Drug Store U, GET IT AT $ THE BOLLES DRUG STORE U/ 108 S. Main Street, Bowling Green, Ohio CRANE'S MUSIC STORE HEADQUARTERS FOR VICTOR VICTROLAS, PIANOS, PLAYER PIANOS, RECORDS, ROLLS CONVENIENT TERMS 235 North Main Street BOWLING GREEN, OHIO S. T. WIGGINS W. J. GILLESPIE WIGGINS PLUMBING CO. Plumbing, Heating, Electrical Work 139 West Wooster Street BOWLING GREEN, OHIO IF THE WIGGINS PEOPLE DO IT IT IS RIGHT WHY WASTE TIME EXPERIMENTING AT MR. "JUST-AS-GOODSM? There is one Grocery where you always get fair treatment, prompt service and the best the market affords at all seasons and prices always honest. And that place is WILL COOK'S No. 117 South Main Street BOWLING GREEN, OHIO ^A^k-o /rf/£~. PREFACE THE purpose of this book is to preserve to the people of Wood county and the Maumee Valley some of the historic facts and interesting incidents of its early days and to present them in an entertaining and readable form. The plan of making it scrap-book-fashion originated with my father and an outline of the work had been arranged by him and left — an unfinished task. The further preparation and compilation was then entrusted to the trained hand of Mr. F. J. Oblinger, who has, with pains-taking care, from a mass of manuscript, notes, clippings and other material, condensed the gleanings of a life time into these pages. I am also under obligations to Mr. John E. Gunckel, of Toledo, for his kind- ness in permitting the use of a number of cuts from his "Early History of the Maumee Valley." The publication I have undertaken, personally, as a memorial to my father, from whose pen most of the articles have come. Some are now in print for the first time, while others have appeared during his years of active newspaper work. My fathers labors in this direction were purely out of love for the work. All history appealed to him, but the early struggles of Wood county pioneers was a chapter so replete with tragic interest, so tinged with romance, so filled with human endeavor and its achievement that it called forth his highest admiration. It seemed fitting, therefore, that the final effort of his life should have been a record of these events and with this thought in mind and the grateful encour- agement and friendly interest extended by his old associates, both personally and as members of the Pioneer and Historical societies, I have ventured to complete the work. MAY EVERS-ROSS. Bowling Green, 0., Nov. 17, 1909. OUR PIONEERS At a meeting of the Maumee Valley Pioneers some years since, Mrs. C. W. Evers wrote and read the following poem: All honor due ye, hoary heads, Assembled here to-day, A power higher than man's own Hath guarded your pathway; Else not one aged pioneer Would answer to the call Which brings, the lew remaining ones With each successive Tall. Where swale and marshes yielded naught To energetic men, Are orchards now of choicest fruit And fields of golden grain. Not a cabin left which sheltered Our fathers brave and true; They've crumbled like their owners, And mansions rise to view. *Tis good to meet and here relate The hardships each hath borne, You know of toils and sorrows pass'd O'er which none others mourn; You know when the rude little cabins Loomed up in the distance afar; Each one brought joy to your household, For a neighbor, a friend would he there. '.Mid joyful songs and stories Your evenings slowly waned, When the choppings, and the raisings, And the husbands all were gained.- Think not that we would feign forget Your fearless courage tried, Nor less appreciate the boon Your efforts have supplied. Our eves behold an Eden, Where once the forest stood, Where generations more than one Haw wrestled with the wood. Where grew the bramble-bush and trees, Are lawns of velvet green, Imagination scarce can paint The chancres there have been. Products alone are not her wealth — Our Pioneers have cause To justly feel a pride in those Who consecrate their laws. E'en from the swamps came talent fair, And self-made men are here, Schooled in a little hut of logs, No college then was near. We oft bewail, declare our roads Are not quite smooth enough; Well, forty years ago to-day Wood county roads were rough. The farmer laid aside the wheels, And, mounted on his horse, Would ride for many weary miles To reach the old Court House. But now instead its dome appears, As centrally behest, From scat of Justice speed the trains, North — South — yea, East and West. All nature smiles upon you now, God bless your later years ! The time will come, we'll call in vain For our dear Pioneers. WOOD COUNTY'S BIRTH Its Development from the Misty Past — Our Love for the Memory of Our Heroic Pioneers, Whose Splendid Results We Now Enjoy "Gimme hack the dear old days — the pathway through the dells To the schoolhouse in the blossoms; the sound of far-off bells Tinklin' 'crost the meadows, the song of the bird an' brook, The old-time dictionary an' the blue-back spellin' book. "Gone, like a dream, forever — a city's hid the place Where stood the ol' log schoolhouse, an' no familiar face Is smilin' there in welcome beneath a morniir sky — There's a bridge acrost the river, an' we've crossed an' said "good-by." — Atlanta Constitution. By Charles WHO is there who does not love to hear of their ancestors and their ancestral home, even if that home was ever so homely — nothing but a log cabin with a stick chimney? Even though the father and mother and grandparents, — long since passed away — were plain, every-day people, dressed in home-spun garb, yet our thoughts to our latest hour in life go back to the dear old home and to those dear old people with tenderest emotions. Heroic, were they? Ah, yes. We of Wood county may not deny that virtue to our ancestors. Go back if you will half or three-quarters of a century and view the wilderness landscape of swamp, plain and forest as they found it, in your worst vein of imagination and say if they who buffeted with those discouragements were not untitled heroes. The Wood county of today has much to be proud of. We need no self-glori- fication, but our pride may justly go back W. Evers. to those pioneer ancestors who amid pov> erty, sickness and privation of every kind laid broad and enduring, the foun- dation of our present prosperity. It is the story of such as these — indi- viduals, communities and nations, to- gether with the land they inhabited which makes biography and history — two of the most interesting branches of hu- man knowledge. Wood county with its accumulation, thrifty people and historic years, lias an interesting contribution of this kind, now Past passing into oblivion, which if fittingly and truthfully told is well worthy a place in the annals of the nation. Much that belongs to and be- comes a part of our history occurred be- fore our land had a place marked in the Geographical Atlas. Our homes of today lay in the track of great events. The martial tread of armies, men upon whose valor the fate of the nation hung, disturbed the silent wastes of Wood lone: before she had so 8 THE PIONEEIi much as a name, and the forest echoes repeated the startling roar of the cannon which proclaimed that the final contest between Civilization and Barbarism was in deadly issue at her very threshold. The story of her early settlement and progress, while a fruitful theme for the chronicler's pen. will derive increased in- terest from a brief narration of some of this preceding outline history which has become a part of the written story of the nation. In this we are told that Wood county was a small fractional part of a vast extent of territory, of which the French were the first white claimants, basing their claim as other Europeans did on the right of discovery and con- quest. This nominal possession had ex- isted about one hundred years when, in 1763, the English, who were also claim- ants of contiguous territory, dispossessed the French, after a bloody war, of all their lands in America. That twenty years later, in 1783, England, in turn, after a war of eight years, was forced to quit- claim all her possessions south of Can- ada to her own rebellious Colonists, who started a new Government of their own styled The United States of America. The open page of our history after this nominal ownership by these two most powerful and enlightened nations of Europe, for a period of one hundred and twenty years, was still a blank. No marks of civilization were left behind. Adventurous explorers and fur-traders had passed through the forests or by the river in expeditions to points beyond, but otherwise this Land, since called Wood county, was nought but a vast game preserve for vagrant bands of In- dian hunters. But a change for the better is coming slowly. Civilization has set its course westward with relentless tread. War is sometimes a great educator. The vari- ous desultory expeditions in the west had been the means of promulgating wonder- ful stories in the east of the beauty and fertility of the western country, and shortly after the birth of the new Gov- ernment a vast tide of immigration was sweeping across the Alleghanies to the fertile region of the Ohio and its tribu- taries. It should be kept in mind that each of the civilized nations claiming any part of the country, held it always subject to the claims of the Indian tribes occupying it. There was this serious cloud on the title of all land in the west at that time. In the present, boundaries of Ohio not less than thirteen tribes and bands laid claim to title. As will be readily foreseen the great inundation of white settlers into their fine hunting grounds soon aroused the jealousy and hostility of these tribes and stealthy murders and brutal, fiendish outrages on the whites soon followed. The Government, then under the wise ad- ministration of President Washington, had observed so far as possible a humane and pacific policy toward all the tribes and had spared no efforts to secure peace with them by treaty and purchase of their lands. But through the mischiev- ous advice and influence of British trad- ers, who were profiting by a lucrative traffic with the Indians, they insisted on the Ohio River as the boundary between them and the whites, and no treaty which all the tribes would respect and sanc- tion could be made, only on this basis. Finally an army under Gen. Harmar was sent against them, but was defeated on the Maumee near where Fort Wayne now is. Another army under Gen. St. Clair, then Governor of the Northwest Territory, was organized and sent against them. Again, the savages fell back, though by a more direct course toward the Maumee. Again the Americans met with overwhelming defeat and were routed with great slaughter and the bar- barous butchery of all their unfortunate wounded and prisoners, and the loss of all their cannon and military equipage. Tli is so emboldened the Indians that SCRAP-BOOK. all the whites north of the Ohio were compelled for safety to shut themselves up in forts and block-houses and from all sides came loud demands for strong and vigorous measures by the Govern- ment, which was far too slow and lenient in its policy to suit the distressed settlers. President Washington now sent for Genera] Anthony Wayne, an old army associate of his in the Revolution. Wayne who was a resolute man of auda- cious courage, came on and organized his army and though assailed and opposed by r\rvy stralegeni of savage warfare, he marched to the Maumee, where on the northerly bank of the Maumee about two miles below the present townsite of Wa- terville, August 20, 17 94, he met the confederated tribes and fragments of tribes of the Northwest who had assem- bled their warriors to dispute his further advance by the wager of battle. Wayne assailed them with his characteristic fury and impetuosity. The issue was not long in doubt. The Indians were completely routed, many of their chiefs •being killed, while the rest, when the bat- tle was over, were flying fugitives. They had been encouraged and assisted by the British, who had a fort, in violation of their treaty with the United States, just below where Maumee is now. Some of the Indians fled there for protection but the gates were shut against them. The Eng- lish commander had doubtless a pretty wholesome respect for Wayne as a soldier and did not care to take any chances in provoking him to storm the fort and therefore prudently refused to give shel- ter to the fugitive savages. The Americans destroyed all corn- fields and Indian villages on their re- turn up the river, subsisting much of the time, especially while they were con- si riK-t ing Fort Wayne and Del'ianc. on the corn and vegetable patches of the Indians. After garrisoning these forts Wayne marched back to Foit Greenville, now in Darke county, and left the tribes to ponder over the situation until spring to decide whether they would make peace or have more war. The effect of Wayne's victory over the Indians cannot he correctly measured by the number of savages slain in battle. The campaign had convinced them of their inability to successfully make war on the whites. They had seen an army come among them led by a chief whom they could neither surprise nor defeat. They had seen the hollowness of the Eng- lish promises of help; when danger came they had seen the king's soldiers creep into their forts like ground hogs, and when the Indian went there for protec- tion the gate was shut in his face and he was left to the mercy of Wayne's victori- ous soldiers. They had seen their corn- fields laid waste, their villages burned and their women and children left des- titute for the winter and had seen five garrisoned forts placed in their country to enforce peace. There was a logic in all this that the Indian could under- stand. He saw that he must do one of three things, make peace, leave the coun- try, or be annihilated. British agents still endeavored to pre- vent a treaty, but hollow promises and fine talk did not allay the pangs of hun- ger and the pinching cold of winter; and the following year the basis of a treaty was made at Greenville, Darke county, on the 3d of August, 1795, by which the Indians relinquished all claim forever to more than three- fourths of Ohio, besides sixteen cessions of land, located from each other at great dis- tances, and distributed over an extensive area of wilderness country, the lands upon which are now established those great centers of commerce, Chicago, De- troit, Toledo and Fort Wayne, besides other distant posts, as Versailles and Mackinaw. This treaty was signed by the war chiefs of no less than twelve tribes of Indians. Then came treaty after treaty and 10 THE PIONEER grant after grant during the years that followed — Treaty of Port Industry, 1805; at Detroit, 1807; at Brownstown, 1808; treaty where Maumee now stands. in 1817, and one of the most important to the Maumee Valley- treaty at St. Marys, 1818; treaty of Saginaw, 1819. One by one the differed grants were extinguish- ed. The Delawares ceded their reserva- tions in 1829. The Wvandots ceded theirs by a treaty made at Upper San- dusky, March 17, 1842. This was the last Indian treaty in Ohio — a state, says Henry Howe, every foot of whose soil has been fairly purchased by treaties from its original possessors. The last Indian title extinguished was that of the Wvandots, and they left for Kansas in July, 1843. EARLY FORMATION Wood County Seat Once at Detroit Struggle Over Location Rivalry Between Orleans and Perrysburg Mil. EVEES compiled the following bit of interesting history of Wood county in its early days: The territory now known as ' Wood county, belonged to the Eries, or, as some historians say. the Neuter Nation. The French explorers and missionaries first saw the shores of Lake Erie, and next to the Iroquois, invaded the country about the close of the first half of the Seventeenth Century. Prom the beginning of French exploration to 1713, it formed a part of the original province of Quebec; fr 1713 to 17 04, it was a part of Louisiana; from 176-1 to 1769, under tic British parliament statute, it belonged to Quebec province; from 1769 to 1778, under authority of the Virginia legislature, it was attached to Boletourt county, Ya., and from 1778 to 1787, if formed a pari of Illinois count)', Va. When the territory northwest of the Ohio was established in 1787, Wood county was its wildest and most inhos- pitahle part, and later off of Wayne coun- ty (organized in 1796). The Ottawas, Miamis and other tribes, claimed it as their hunting grounds. The First Legislature Of Ohio, in March and April, 1803,. established the counties of Green, Mont- gomery. Gallia, Butler, Warren. Geauga, Scioto and Franklin, and all of Wood county, south of the Pulton line was de- tached from the great county of Wayne. Our county seat was then at Detroit. Congress had since chopped us off, so to- speak, and, like a chip from a great log, we were lying over in the state of Ohio, and our late county seat, Detroit, was in Wayne county still, but in Indiana ter- ritory. The Maumee country had been divorced. We were in that fragment of Ohio that had been Wayne county, North- west territory, hut now we were in a new state, without a seat of justice or countv government, nor even a county name. No Use For It It is true that the hordes of Indians and few white traders and half breeds here had hut little use for a county seat, hut still it was the fashion to preserve the semblance of civil government, by attaching all territory to some organized county for such purposes, ft had been the rule too, on the Ohio, where the set- tlements began, to extend the limits of the new counties to the northern hound- SCRAP-BOOK. 11 ary of the territory. So ii happened, when Green and Franklin counties were organized on the northern borders of tho settlements, they were extended north to the state line, possibly to include the 12 mile reserve, and took in the present ter- ritory of Wood. The presenl tier of eastern townships of Wood were in Franklin, with the county seat at Frank- linton, now Columbus, and the remainder of Wood was attached to Green county, with seat of justice at Xenia. But the fact that this territory had two county seats caused hut little inconvenience; ex- cept the U. S. Reserve it was all Indian territory; there were no taxes to pay or deeds to record. Settlements, however, were extending up the Mad river very fast, and two years later, 1805, Cham- paign county was formed of parts of Green and Franklin counties, and in 1817, Logan county was organized. Wood county was in Logan county from 1st; to 1820 as well as in Erie county in the territory of Michigan, for the Michigan authorities justly exercised jurisdiction over a part of it. Dr. Horatio Conant had no sooner made his home within the old limits of Wood county, than Governor Cass com- missioned, him a Justice of the Peace of Erie county, with headquarters at Mau- mee. To oppose this action, and as soon as Waynesfield township of Logan county was established, the governor of Ohio commissioned Seneca Allen, of Fort Meigs, a Justice of the Peace for Logan county, and thus it was in two distinct jurisdictions until 1835-36, when the Toledo war woke up congress to apply a remedy. A County of Their Own Xow that the Maumee Rapids people had a county of their own, and a seat of justice right in their midst, it might reasonably he presumed that they would, after the great inconvenience they had endured, he happy to a man. Xot so. MuiiKin nature is not shaped thus. Jt was the same then as it is today; never satisfied. Maumee had the county seat temporarily, hut nol by general approval. Orleans and Perrysburg were not pleas- ed. The settlers were pretty evenly di- vided on each side of the river. Rut in the new counties then forming, the seats of justice were fixed temporarily by the legislature until the developments of pop- ulation should indicate where the proper place for the county seat would he, when three- disinterested commissioners were appointed, whose duty it was to carefully investigate the situation and fix upon the location of the county seat. Had the location of the seat of justice been by a vote of the settlers, no doubt Maumee would have held it at that time. Both Sides Were Envious Orleans and Perrysburg, both on the south side of the river, were envious of each other and would not act in unity, and in a triangular hat tie. Maumee could out vote either of them. The ques- tion has often been raised in later years as to how Perrysburg got. the county seat away from her stronger neighbor, Maumee, and we believe this is the first time an explanation has appeared in print The County Seat Located At the session of the legislature, in the winter of 1821-22, Charles R. Sher- man (father of Senator and General Sherman), Edward Paine, Jr., and Xehemiah King were appointed commis- sioners to fix the permanent location of the county seat, of Wood county. At the May term of court in Maumee, 1822, the report of these commissioners, a copy of which had been placed on file with the clerk, was read in open court, and from which report (following the language of the journal), "it appears that the town of Perrysburg in said county of Wood, was selected as the most proper place as 12 THE PIONEER a seat of justice for said county of Wood, the said town of Perrysburg being as near the center of said county of Wood, as to situation, extent of population, quality of land and convenience and in- terest of the inhabitants of said county of Wood, as was possible, the commis- sioners aforesaid designate in-lot No. 387, as the most proper site for the court house of said county of Wood." Fought Till the Last It must not for a moment be supposed that Maumee surrendered up this coveted prize without a protest, or that Orleans looked on with an approving smile. Both opposed it with every possible in- fluence, but Perrysburg had a powerful ally. -Just at this critical juncture, the United States gave sonic friendly aid to her protege. A Gift of Great Benefit In May, 1822, Congress enacted a law vesting the title to all unsold lots and out-lots in Perrysburg, in the Commis- sioners of Wood county, on condition that the county seat should be perman- ently located there. The net proceeds of the sale .of the lots were to be used m erecting public buildings, etc. There was a considerable number of these lots unsold and the gift proved of great bene- fit to the county in its early poverty, in getting a jail and court house without much expense to the tax-payers. Ee- gardless of this help to the county, the decision of the commissioners who locat- ed the seat of justice, was a wise and also a just one, either in the light of the views set forth in their report, or of what subsequently occurred, the dismember- ment of Wood county to form Lucas. A Complicated Question There was. too, at this time a compli- cated question of jurisdiction between Ohio and the territory of Michigan, which well nigh provoked a war 15 years later. According to the claims of Michi- gan, most of the territory north of the Maumee belonged to her. The final de- cision of the question rested with Con- gress, as Michigan was not yet a state. This uncertainty of jurisdiction may also have had its influence with the commis- sion which fixed the permanent county seat at Perrysburg. It was known to the friends of the latter place, and the Hollisters, Spaffords and others, who had at that time invested in property in Per- rysburg, were tacticians enough to work the point for all it was worth. Although the decision of the commission in favor of Perrysburg was made in May, 1822, there does not appear to have been any haste in the removal. The Commissioners Meet The first meeting of the county com- missioners in Perrysburg, as shown by their journal, was on the 3rd of March following, nearly ten months after the decision had been made. Their minutes of the proceeding in Maumee, during al- most three years, show a light amount of routine work. They had constructed a log jail and taken some steps looking to the establishment of roads. Their record for the entire time covers only about 20 pages, and the auditor, Am- brose Rice, received $29.75 for his ser- vices in the year ending March 4, 1822. Thomas W. Powell, then prosecuting at- torney, was appointed auditor for the year 1823, and filled both offices, getting an allowance of $30 for his services as auditor, which was 25 cents more than Pice got. SCRAP-BOOK. 13 THE TREATY OF MAUMEE Most Important to Wood County Opposed by Some of the Indian Chiefs Thrill- ing Scenes This Section at Last Placed on the Map THE conclusion of the series of great events by which the United States acquired a clear title deed to the lands now embraced in Wood county was that of the Maumee Treaty in 1817. In September of that year Duncan McAr- thur and Lewis Cass, as the authorized agents of the United States, met the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawa- tomy, Seneca, Delaware, and Shawnee tribes to the number of about 7,000 In- dians, at a treaty council at the Maumee Rapids and purchased from them all their remaining lands in Ohio except some scattering reservations. Only one of these touched the present limits of Wood county. Of all the great treaties from that made with the Iroquois at Fort Stanwix in 1784, down to this at the Maumee Rapids, none was so important to North- western Ohio. Campaigns had been made and battles fought — sometimes to end in defeat, sometimes in victory. Treaty had followed treaty, but each and all had consigned this land to the sway of the savage. Almost three decades had passed from the time the Marietta Colony was planted on the Ohio in 1878, until the power of the government was invoked in bringing the unshadowed noonday light of Civilization to the Mau- mee country. Now, for the first time could it be said that this section stood on an equality with the rest of Ohio, free from the fetters of ownership and dominance of a race whose interests, habits, customs and mode of life were entirely opposed to the improvement of the country. It is possible that this land was, in that early time, thought unfit for white occupation, or rather that it was better suited to the uses of Indians than whites. It was doubtless true that in some re- spects this portion of Ohio was not the most desirable of any in the State. That, however, coupled with the fact that it was held as Indian territory for about thirty years after settlement begun in other portions of the State, explains why some of the counties were, for a time, way behind the procession. A line drawn from Sandusky Bay south along the west end of the Con- necticut Reserve to the Greenville treaty line, near Mount Gilead, thence wester- ly along that line to the Indiana line, thence north to Michigan, and including all the west part of Ohio as far as De- fiance, and down the Maumee to its mouth, would about embrace the Ohio land bought at that treaty, and since cut up into about eighteen counties. Wood, as she is today, lay entirely within this purchase, aside from the half of the twelve-mile square Reserve on the north side of the Maumee, bought at Wayne's treaty. The land on the north side of the Maumee, west to Defiance, was bought at the treaty of Detroit, 1807. The treaty was regarded by the people of the state with great interest. This part of Ohio north of the Greenville line was a blank space on the map. It was simply the Indian territory and the "Black Swamp." Its name caused a shrug of terror to many. In others there was a belief that while it was not an earthly paradise, yet it was a good place to go and "grow up with the coun- try." The Indians too, did not agree as to the advisability of selling it. There was a division among them and some stout opposition developed at the treaty. Signing the Treaty of 1817 Gen. Hunt, in his reminiscences, says: 14 THE PIONEER There was an Indian present whose name was Mashkeman, who was a ureal warrior, and prided himself on being a British subject. He had been bribed to oppose the treaty. When lie found the Indians giving way to Cass and McAr- thur, our commissioners, it made 1dm wit angry. He said in his speech that "the palefaces had cheated the red men, from their first landing on this conti- nent. The first who came said they wanted land enough to put a foot on. They gave the [ndians a beef, and were to have so much land as the hide would cover. The palefaces cut that hide into strings, and got land enough for a fort. The next time they wanted more land they bought a great pile of goods, which they ottered for land. The red men took the goods, and the palefaces were to have for them so much land as a horse would travel round in a day. They cheated the red man again by having a relay of horses to travel at their utmost speed. Tn that way they succeeded. Now. you Cass.*' pointing his finger and shaking his tomahawk over Cass' head, "Now, you Cass, come here to cheat us again."" Thus closing he sat down. Cass replied: "My friends, I am much pleased to find among you so great a man as Mashke- man. I am glad to see yon have an ora- tor, a man wdio understands how much you have been cheated by the white peo- ple, and who is fully able to cope with them — those scoundrels who have cheat- ed yon so outrageously. *Tis true what he has said, every word true. And the first white man was your French father. The second white man was your English father you seem to think so much of. "Now you have a father, the Presi- dent, who doos not want to cheat you, hut wants to give you more land west of the Mississippi than you have here, and to build mills for you. and help you till the soil." At which Mashkeman raved and froth- ed at the mouth. He came up to den. Cass, struck him on the breast with the back of his band, raising his tomahawk with the other hand, saying, "Cass, you lie: you lie!'" ('ass turned to Knaggs, who was one of the interpreters, and said: "Take that woman away and put a petticoat on her; no man would talk that way in council." Two or three Indians and interpreters took him off out of the council. The treaty resulted in buying from the In- dians the northwestern part of Ohio and the southern part of Michigan. Another warrior, Otusso, meaning White Cloud, and his mother were aho present and are thus spoken of: Otusso, son of Kantuck-e-gau, the most eloquent warrior of his tribe, was a very intelligent Indian — quite the equal of Tecumseh in menial acumen, but lacking the force and vigor of the latter. Otusso was a descendant of the renowned Pontiac, and at the time of his death the last of his family, and the last war chief of his nation, remaining on the Maumee river. Ifis mother was a sort of Indian Queen and grandnieee to Pontiac. She was held in great reverence by the In- dians— so much so, that at the time of Ibis treaty in 1817 (she then being very old and wrinkled and bent over with age. her hair perfectly white), no chief would sign the treaty until she had first consented and made her mark bv touch- ing her fingers to the pen. At that treaty there were 7,000 Indians gather- ed together. When the treaty was agreed upon, the head chiefs and war- riors sat round the inner circle. She had a place among them. The remain- ing Indians, with the women and chil- dren, comprised a crowd outsid". The child's sat on seats built under the roof of the council house, which was open on all sides. The whole assembly kept si- lence. The chiefs bowed their heads and cast their eves to the ground and waited SCKAP-BOOK. \:> patiently for the old woman until she Tose, went forward, and touched the pen to the treaty, after it had been read to them in her presence. Then followed the signatures of all the chiefs. More Encouragement to Settlers Following close after this treaty an- other helpful thing to the settlement took place. The Government in the previous year. 1816, had not only plat- ted the town of Perry sburg but had re- surveyed the 12-mile Reserve. It was in this survey that a change was made and the land along the river subdivided into river tracts instead of the usual form of survey. The land office was at Wooster, Ohio, and in 1817 the sale took place, which proved of great advantage to the settle- ment. It gave a fixedness and perman- ence to the improvements started. Hith- erto when all were squatters without fixed tenure there was but little incen- tive to go into extensive improvement. —('. 11'. E. WOOD COUNTY BORN In the Track of Startling Events Long Before It Had a Name WOOD COUNTY, in name and boundary, was born into the sis- terhood of Ohio counties April 1, 1820, by an act of the Ohio Assembly. She drew her first breath of official corporate life in the following month, May 12, in the second story of a little store room in Maumee. There the first Board of Com- missioners (Daniel Huhhell, John Pray and W. II. Ewing) held their first meet- ing and made the first page of the official records of Wood county. The beginning was small, but the ex- pectations were proportionately great. It is safe to affirm that there was not at that time a more unpromising member in the. family of Ohio counties. Possi- bly that gallant soldier, Captain Wood, who was Gen. Harrison's chief engineer at Fort Meigs, and who helped to defend that post in 1812, and for whom Wood county was named, did not feel very highly complimented. But were it pos- sible that he could rise up from beside the marble shaft built to his memory on the Hudson at West Point, and view this land now touched by the magic wand of three generations, he would not be ashamed of his progressive namesake. The biography of these hardy pioneers and the historic events of the memorable past rightly form a part of the story of Wood county. An account of the land and of the individuals and communities who occupy it makes biography and his- tory, two of the most interesting branch- es of human knowledge. Wood county, with her accumulation of historic years and thrifty, progressive people, has a contribution of this kind now fast passing into oblivion, which, if truthfully and fittingly told, is well worthy a place in our national history. Much that belongs to and becomes a part of our history occurred before our land had a place marked in the geography of the world. The homes which we enjoy t.o-dav lay in the tracks of great events of the past. Long before the silent wastes of Wood had even a name, the martial tread of armies responded to the call of the na- tion, when its destiny hung trembling in the balance. It was then the startling roar of cannon proclaimed that the final contest between Civilization and Barbar- ism was in deadly issue at her very threshold.— C. W. E. Hi THE PIONEEE CATHOLIC MISSIONS First Established in Ohio — Interesting Sketch by D. W. Manchester, of Cleveland THE following interesting sketch of the first Catholic explorers and mis- sionaries, was furnished Mr. Evers some years ago by D. W. Manchester, Secre- tary and Librarian of the Western Re- serve Historical Society, with headquar- fcers at Cleveland: There has been much published relat- ing to early explorations in North Amer- ica and the West, but a great portion from the different sources does not seem to assimilate, or there seems, rather, to be a disagreement with the whole. There has been less published, because of less general interest, perhaps, respecting the first priests and their missions; but what has been published appears to be more definite and reliable. I suppose there is no doubt that La Salle was the first white man who "looked into the Maumee Val- ley," although Jolliet undoubtedly was the first Frenchman who navigated Lake Erie; and while the latter may have coasted along the southerly shore of that Lake, there is no probability that he pen- etrated at all the interior. There is scarcely any ground for question that La- Salle did make explorations within the present state, and he is believed to have been at Cleveland and in the vicinity of Canfield, Mahoning county. On this expedition LaSalle set out from Mon- treal, July, 1667, "with five Canoes and three Canoes of Sulpitians guided by some Senecas who had wintered in Cana- da." Col. Chas. Whittlesey, until his death president of the Western Reserve Historical Society from its organization, speaking of this expedition, the only record of which, so far as I am aware, being that of Galinee, "still in deacon's orders," who accompanied LaSalle, says, "La Salle's plan might have been to cross Lake Ontario to Grand river, down it to the lake, thence along the north shore of Erie to the mouth of the Maumee river on the route referred to by him in 1662." The Colonel also says, "He (La- Salle) may have spent the winter (1669- 70) in Ohio, where game was abundant and beaver numerous. We have no re- liable evidence that he was at Montreal between July 1669 and August 1672." There is much mystery about the move- ments of LaSalle, and an unfortunate lack or reliable data, arising largely from the fact that the Catholics make as little mention of him as possible after what they term his "apostasy." Gen. Garfield, in a valuable address, published as Tract 20, publications of the Histori- cal Society, entitled "Discovery and Ownership of the Northwestern Terri- tory and Settlement of the Western Re- serve," follows much the same line of thought as Col. Whittlesey, and speaking of La Salle's expedition says, "We find him with a small party near the western extremity of Lake Ontario boldly enter- ing the domain of the dreaded Iroquois, traveling southward and westward through the wintry wilderness until he reached a branch of the Ohio, probably the Alleghany." Before the death of Col. Whittlesey, Pierre Margry communicated to him an extract from an unpublished letter (with- out date) of La Salle's, in which the lat- ter mentions "the river which you see marked on my map of the southern coast of this lake (Erie), etc." The original of this letter was sent to Francis Park- man, who says, "On the map described 'Discovery of Great West' the Maumee river is clearly laid down, with a portage direct to the Ohio, which is brought close to Lake Erie." This map is clearly an- terior to 1680. I might add that an additional reason why there is so little account of LaSalle's travels and explorations, is found in the fact that a part of the papers were SC KAP-BOOK. 17 lost in the attack of the Iroquois on the post in 1681, and that on his assassina- tion in 1687, his brother, the Abbe Cavalier, burned the most of the papers that were found with him. Mr. Gillmany Shea is of the opinion that we may conclude that "unauthor- ized trappers, traders and Coureurs de bois, both French and English, were among the Indians in advance of the explorers." It is a fact, I believe, that the early explorers and priests (and they were in- separable) came direct from Canada to the Northwest Territory, and Mr. Shea says that Father Joseph Le Caron was the first Catholic priest from Canada who penetrated into the present territory of the United States. He was one of four Fransiscans whom Champlain obtained from France in 1614. A year later, Le Caron was laboring among the In- dians at Lake Huron; but I think there is no evidence that he was in the limits of Ohio. Mr. Shea is unquestioned authority on Catholic missions in America, and in an article contributed by him to the Catholic Universe of Cleveland in 1881, and which paper the Eev. G. F. Houck, Chancellor of the Cleveland Diocese, which embraces thirty-three counties in Northern and Northwestern Ohio, has embodied in his book entitled "The Church in Northern Ohio," says, "The first trace of Catholic missionaries having visited the territory now within the limits of Ohio, is found as early as 1749. It was then that the Jesuit Fathers, Potier and Bonnecamp, came to evangelize the Huron Indians living along the Vermillion and Sandus- ky rivers, in Northern Ohio. He also states that the first permaneni chapel within the confines of the present state of Ohio, was erected near Sandusky in 1751, by the Jesuit Father de la Rich- ardie, who, with his companions, had come from Detroit and Canada to the -'-lit hern shore of Lake Erie. A part of the Huron tribe was brought by Father de la Richardie, in 1751, to Sandusky, where, under the name of Wyandots, they soon took an active part in the affairs of the West. They were also conspicuous in the last French War, and at its close were implicated in the conspiracy of Pontiac, though long" checked by the influence of Father Peter Potier, S. J. During the exciting times of the war these missionaries were driven from Sandusky, Father Potier being the last Jesuit missionary among the west- ern Hurons. He died in July, 1781. The Indian missions in and near San- dusky thence depended entirely on the priests attached to the French posts in Canada and Michigan. When the Society of Jesus was sup- pressed, and Canada lost to the French, the above mentioned Indian missions were abandoned. From 1751 to 1795 no record is found of any further effort made in Northern Ohio to continue the missionary work begun by the Jesuits. In the early part of 1796 the Rev. Ed- mund Burke was sent by Bishop Hubert, of Quebec, from Detroit, to the north- western part of Ohio, near Fort Miami, just built by the British government on the Maumee river, opposite the present site of Perry sburg, Wood county. Here he resided about one year, minis- tering to the few Catholic soldiers in the fort, and endeavoring with little success, to christianize the Ottawa and Chippe- wa Indians in the neighborhood — the latter work having been for long one of his aims as a missionary priest. Father Burke left this unpromising charge about February, 1797. From thai time, and until 1817, no priest was stationed in Northern Ohio, and in fact none in the entire territory of the presenl state of Ohio." — F>. W. Manchester. 18 THE PIOJSTEEK DISASTROUS CAMPAIGNS Under Gens. Harmar and St. Clair Terror of Settlers Grief of Washington The Man Chosen for the Emergency Washington and Wayne Contrasted EARLY in the year V79d, a short dis- tance north of Marietta, twelve white settlers worn inhumanly butchered and their bodies burned by the Indians. This was the beginning of what is some- times known in history as Wayne's War. The Government still entertained hopes of avoiding a general war, but it was thought best at the same time to chastise the Indians severely for this out- rage and make them feel the power of the "thirteen fires"' as the Indians termed the United States. Accordingly Gen. Harmar, an did continental officer, with a battalion of regular troops and twelve hundred Kentucky and Pennsylvania vol- unteers, marched against the hostile war- riors. These latter fell back to the Mau- mee at the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers, now Fort Wayne. Gen. Harmar' s Defeat There, after some bad generalship by Harmar, a part of bis army was ambush- ed by the Indians under command of a Miami chief named Little Turtle and many of the regulars with their officers killed. The volunteers saved themselves by inglorious flight. Thus, disastrously ended the first at- iempt to punish the Indians. Embold- ened by this victory and stimulated by the plunder it secured them the savages became more defiant and bloodthirsty than ever. The situation of the settlers at this time was one of great peril. Sev- eral desultory Avar expeditions by the Kentucky and Virginia volunteers were made, which resulted chiefly in destroy- ing some Indian villages and their corn- fields, hut this only exasperated the re- vengeful savages to additional atrocities. Gen. St. Clair's Disaster A second expedition by the Gtovernnufht was commanded by Gen. Arthur St. Clair, at that time Governor of the Northwest territory. On the approach of this army the Indians, this time fell back on a more direct route to the Mau- mee. St. Clair, who had seen service in the war of the Revolution, was a gouty old man, lacking not only in vital energy, hut in the qualities of an Indian fighter. He pursued the retreating foe until they bad reached a point (since called Fort Recovery near the head of the Wabash, on the line of the present counties of Darke and Mercer), where, one morning at day- light the Americans \v<'w suddenly and unexpectedly attacked by an overwhelm- ing force of Indians, again led by the wily chieftain Little Turtle. St. Clair's army was utterly defeated and routed with a loss in slain of over nine hundred men. nearly half of his fighting force, to- gether with his cannon, ammunition, baggage and other equipment. An Appalling Calamity No such appalling, ghastly disaster had ever before befel the whites in Indian warfare; not even Braddock's defeat equaled it in loss of life. The prisoners and wounded wcrv put to death with the most diabolical tortures known in savage warfare, while the dead were mutilated in the most horrible man- ner. The eyes of these were gouged out and the sockets as well as the mouth and ears filled with earth — as if in a grim, hideous satisfaction of the white man's demand for more land. The brutality and demoniacal vengeance of the savages was never more atrociously exhibited than in this defeat and pursuit of the whites. The direful news spread rapid- ly from the frontier to the Atlantic and the helpless border settlers spoke of the GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE Hero of The Battle of Fallen Timber. Born in Chester Co., Pa., Jan. 1 , 1 743. Died at Presque Isle, Erie, Pa., Dec. I 5, 1796. SCRAP-BOOK. 21 calamity with bated breath and terror. The situation was now deplorable in the extreme. Washington's Great Grief President Washington, it is related, wrung his hands and shed tears of an- guish when the news reached him and both swore and prayed in the conflict of frenzied emotions which almost distract- ed his mind. He was inconsolable, doubtless in part, for his share of the re- sponsibility, in appointing a man who had proved as incompetent as St. Clair. The whole country clamored loudly now for active and strong measures by the Government. A leader was in de- mand to go to the frontier, organize an army and punish and subdue the sav- ages, an undertaking of no small mag- nitude as the case then stood. The Pres- ident, after much serious deliberation, sent for Gen. Anthony Wayne A former military associate, living at Chester, Pennsylvania, a small farmer and surveyor by occupation. Wayne mounted his horse and rode to the capital city to see what his old commander want- ed. He was then in the prime of life, a fighter by nature, of audacious courage and had the greatest degree of confidence in the wisdom and judgment of the Presi- dent, in all things. He promptly consented to go and fight the Indians if the President would allow him time to recruit, equip and drill his army before he was required to march against the enemy, which reasonable pre- caution, of course, was assented to. Wayne and Washington Anthony Wayne, whom President Washington had called to his aid in this grave emergency, was a rugged, pictur- esque character of the Revolutionary period. It seems even at this distant day, an anomaly in the character of the great President that he had always placed such implicit trust and confidence in one so much unlike himself in nearly every characteristic. Wayne, while not dissipated, loved grog and jovial companions. Washington, was sedate, dignified and sober. Wayne was subject to startling ebullitions of profanity when angry or excited and it mattered little either who his auditors were. Washington was self-poised and devoutly religious in character. As soldiers, too, they were unlike. Wayne in battle struck with the furry of a tempest, regardless of consequences. He was by some called reckless and had even then won the soubriquet of "Mad Anth- ony," which followed him to his grave. Washington was slow and deliberate, cal- culating carefully the effect of every movement. Wayne had the dash and impetuosity of Murat, forming his conclusions on the impulse of the moment. Washington had the crafty strategy, foresight and in- flexibility of purpose of Frederick the Great. Wayne sought victory over his enemies by the short, sharp method of bloody an- nihilation. Washington compassed the destruction of his foe by adroit and far- reaching combinations and steady, hard fighting to a finish. Each was great in his sphere. Each devoutly loved his country, and this de- votion harmonized all differences or pre- judices in habits and character. Such were the men of the Revolution. Illustrative somewhat of Wayne's pe- culiar characteristics an incident is told of him, whether true or not, during the dark clays of the Revolution. A council of war had been held at Washington's headquarters, and Wayne, who commanded a Pennsylvania brigade some distance away, had been decided on as a suitable leader of a storming party to assault and carry the high, rocky for- tress of Stony Point on the Hudson. The fortress was not only strong by nature, 22 THE PIONEER but was defended by six hundred trained British soldiers, and the mere thought of carrying it by a night attack was sug- gestive of desperate work. Storming Stony Point Washington sent for Wayne, with whom at that time he had but little per- sonal acquaintance. Watching closely the effects his question would have, he said: "Gen. Wayne, I have sent for you in ask you a question; can you take your brigade and storm Stony Point?" Quick as a flash the general was on his feet and with a wicked light in his eye, staring straight into the face of the commander, he said: "General, I can storm hell, if you will lay the plan for me." This bluff, warlike answer, in the con- templation of so hazardous an enterprise, almost startled the sedate commander, but he saw in the resolute rough and ready soldier before him the very man lie had been looking for to lead the as- sault on Stony Point. Wayne did not disappoint his com- mander's expectations. He led his men up the rocky precipice over the British parapets in the face of a deadly fire with the -weep of a rising tornado. When near the top a bullet struck Wayne on the head and knocked him down, but with a blasphemous oath on all the Brit- ish he commanded his men. who thought him fatally hurt, to carry him into the fortress, where he met the English com- mandant, paralyzed and dum founded at the audacity and suddenness of the at- tack and who surrendered without con- ditions. This daring and successful ex- pedition led by Wayne, was pronounced by Gen. Charles Lee to be the most bril- liant achievement of the war. A Soldier and Leader Wayne fought in nearly all the prin- cipal battles of the Revolution and al- ways with distinction. If there was any desperate work to be done his was the first name mentioned. His savage at- tack on Cornwallis in Virginia, in which he inflicted heavy loss on the British, doubtless saved Lafayette from serious disaster in that campaign. Wayne was sent to Georgia and routed and dro^e from that state a large force of Indians on their way to join the British. The Georgia Legislature voted him their thanks, and also gave him a large tract of land for this service. In this cam- paign Wayne acquired some useful ex- perience in Indian diplomacy and war- fare, which afterwards came in good play in dealing with his Indian foes. It should not, from these jottings of Wayne's early career, be inferred that he was a reckless or unsafe commander. There was neither lack of method nor of tactics in his mode of warfare. He was a leader and shared all the dangers and hardships of his men. He had good executive ability, unerring judgment and an acuteness of perception amounting al- most to intuition. Shrewd and quick in expedient, watchful, cautious and ener- getic, Anthony Wayne was A Dangerous Antagonist Either in savage or civilized warfare. Such was the man chosen to carry the stars and stripes — the banner of Civiliza- tion to the Maumee wilderness and whose career we have deemed worthy of more than a passing notice. In his memory, there should be here, s bronze statue the base of which should be the famous Turkey Foot Rock, which yet marks the place of his last battle. The President was delayed in getting the necessary appropriations by Congress, but Wayne in the meantime went west to Pittsburg, preferring to recruit his army from the border men. who made better soldiers for an Indian campaign. It will not be difficult to understand why there was at first a reluctance on the part of men to enlist to fight the savages after the disastrous termination of the SCRAP-BOOK. •23 two previous campaigns. It seemed, like signing one's own death warrant to en- roll to right Indians, the way things had been going. Bitt Wayne's prestige as a soldier, with his other characteristics so well suited to western men of that time, soon won the day, and his army, which was io be called The Legion, divided into four sub-divisions, soon begun to assume fighting proportions. Terms of Peace Rejected In the meantime all emigration north of the Ohio had ceased. The settlers already there lived in. or close to block houses and even in this way were in peril of their lives. The Government all this time had been putting forth every effort to bring the tribes together in a grand council and. if it were possible, to yet avert a general war. Five different mes- sengers had been sent among them on peace mission? and all save one had been murdered, and this one was unable to effect any arrangement satisfactory to both sides. "The Ohio river must be the boundary or blood will flow." was the Indian ultimatum. Wayne, while awaiting the result of the Government's peace efforts, was drill- ing and practicing his troops. In the early part of October, 1793, he advanced northward from the Ohio to a strong po- sition in the enemy's country, where he established Fort Greenville, now the county seat of Darke county. It was already too late in the season to hope to bring the campaign to a su< ful issue before winter, but the position of his army was such that he could afford protection to the settlements and at the same time keep his line of communica- tions open for supplies. Gen. Wayne, therefor.', decided to remain here until spring. About one thousand mounted men from Kentucky who had joined him went home for the winter, but had formed so good an opinion of his army and of Wayne's generalship, thai they promised to come back in the spring, which they did with their numbers increased to 1,600 troops. Burying St. Clair's Dead After establishing his men securely in winter quarters Wayne sent a detachment of troops to the place of St. Clair's de- feat, twenty-three miles in advance of his army, where he established another strong outpost called Fort Recovery. These troops had first to perform the melan- choly duty of gathering up the bleaching skeletons of St. Clair's illfated men. No ss than six hundred skulls were picked up and buried. It was the wish of the President that Wayne should establish and garrison a chain of military posts from the Ohio to the stronghold of the Indians at the Ma u- mee. so as to more effectually check all hostile expeditions and to make the In- dians understand that the Government had power at hand and could summarily punish its enemies and also protect its friends. The Indians had bv this time become pretty well satisfied that the Government meant to deal vigorously with them and exerted themselves correspondingly. InTan Trfre* Unitim Under the advice of Brandt. Blue Jacket. Roundhead. Little Turtle and oth- er leading chieftains, influenced by Brit- ish and Canadian emissaries, who prom- ised them aid to drive back the hated Americans, the tribes were to all unite and make common cause against the ad- vancing enemy. Runners were sent to distant trib - urge them to hurry forward their war- riors for the impending struggle. The medicine men were invoked to aid by all the infernal arts of which superstition was master, to stir up the embers of ha- tred against the people of the thirteen (now increased to fifteen) tires, by addi- tion of Vermont and Kentucky. Wayne, with his knowledge of Indian 24 THE PIOXEER character, from the start had serious doubts of the Government's ability to effect any satisfactory treaty. For this reason he had been restive at the restraint placed upon his movements, which practically delayed him almost a y< iir. Still it is to the credit of the Gov- ernment and humanity that nothing was left undone that could tend to avert the bloody argument of the sword. Wayne's theory of handling savages »-i- a good deal like the famous Method- ist preacher, Peter Cartright, said about his methods of converting the rough sin- ners in the west at an early day. "Shake them over hell until they can smell brim- stone, and then they are willing to accept solvation."— C. W. E. EARLY HISTORY Pertaining to Wood County Wayne's Victory and Its Results The Several Treaties That Followed, Securing This Wide Domain IN giving the story of Wood county the reader is asked at the outset, to kind- ly bear in mind, that for a period of nearly one hundred and fifty years after the coming of the first whites, Wood county had neither name nor place on the Atlas of America. To make the story reasonably intelligible to the stu- dent of her history, some account of the events of that antecedent period becomes necessary. This will be given with due regard to avoiding too many tedious de- tails. The county as since constituted was, for more than one hundred years, a very insignificant part of a vast extent of territory under the nominal ownership of France. That ownership ceased in the year L763 and passed to the English, who, after retaining possession twenty years, surrendered in 1783, all their lands south of Canada to the United States. Thai pari of our history, like the unknown ages before the coming of the whites, is a blank. There are no written lines on its pages. There whs nothing to write. The French and Eng- lish left behind scarcely a visible trace of civilization in the Maumee country. Adventurous explorers and fur traders had visited it, occasionally, or passed through on their journeys to distant points : that was all. The county re- mained in its primeval condition just as the forces of nature had left it since the dawn of creation. It was but a vast game preserve for vagrant bands of In- dian hunters. Indeed this condition of things continued during the first decade of ownership by the United States, when occurrences remote from here brought about a gradual change. The Indian tribes occupying the stretch of unbroken wilderness between the Mau- mee and Ohio rivers began a relentless, murderous warfare on the infant Ameri- can settlements then springing up on the north side of the Ohio. This warfare, in which the tribes had the counsel and advice of mercenary British agents and traders at Detroit, was waged for the purpose of exterminating the whites or driving them to the south side of the Ohio. That was the boundary line the Indians had set, for the Americans. Treaties had been made for the pur- chase of the territory, but the claims of the tribes were so conflicting that one tribe would refuse to sanction or respect the agreements of another and the dead- ly strife continued. So numerous and warlike were the Indians that defeat or disaster had ai tended nearly every war SCKAK-POOK. 25 expedition the Americans had sent against them. Jn the language of one of the Peace Commissioners sent to them by the Government, "The savages had become insolent with triumph." The settlor? had fled to the forts and block- houses for safety and it was evident that the country would have to be abandoned or the Governmenl would have to adopt vigorous measures to break the power of the tribes, by inflicting severe chastise- ment upon them. In this emergency President Washing- ton, then at the head of the Government, sent out to the Ohio an old military as- sociate of his in the Revolution, Gen. Anthony Wayne a man of known fighting qualifications and by his habits, well suited to the rough and ready men on the frontier. Wayne made a success of the work he was chosen for. From the moment lie organized his army and led it into the wilderness the panic-stricken settlers felt hope and confidence. The Indians fell back slowly in the di- rection of the Maumee, watching for an opportunity to ambush or surprise the Americans as they had successfully done in two previous campaigns. Several sav- age assaults were made during the ad- vance, but the warriors, who fought like Spartans, were so roughly handled by Wayne's soldiers that they became more cautious. All devices and stratagems of savage warfare failed them. In the language of their ablest chieftain, Little Turtle, they had met a white chief whose eyes were never closed : to whom the night and the day were alike. The more sagacious of the chiefs saw plainly that they were over-matched at last. With a sort of crude statesmanship thnt one cannot but admire in them, they at once cast aside all old tribal differences for the time being, sent runners to dis- tant tribes and bands for help and put forth every effori to rally a force power- ful enough to destroy the new invader. \t that time the Maumee was the head of Lake Erie, in fact the whole country to Detroit was the seat of a dense Indian population. A good descriptive writer of that time says: '"The Maumee River was a de- lightful home and a secure retreat for our savage enemies. Its banks were studded with their villages, its rich bot- tom lands were covered with their corn, while their light canoes glided over a beautiful current, which was at once a convenient highway and an exhaustless reservoir of food. Forest, stream and prairie produced, spontaneously and in superabundance, game, fish, fruits, nuts — all things necessary to supply their simple wants. Here their wise men, without fear of molestation, gravely con- vened about their council fires, and de- liberated on the means of cheeking and rolling back the tide of white immigra- tion— a tide which they dimly foresaw would ultimately sweep their race from the face of the earth. From here their young warriors crept forth, and stealth- ily approaching the homes of their nat- ural enemies, the palefaces, spread ruin and desolation far and wide. Here their booty and savage trophies were exhibited with the exultations and boasts of the returned 'braves.' Behind an impene- trable swamp, their women, children and property were safe during the absence of their men. Exempt from attack or pur- suit, the savage here enjoyed perfect freedom, and lived in accordance with his rude instincts and the habits and customs of his tribe. Amid the scenes of his childhood, in the presence of his an- cestors' graves, the red warrior, with his squaw and pappoose, surrounded by all the essentials to the enjoyment of his simple wants, here lived out the charac- ter which nature had given him. In Avar, this valley was his base line of at- tack, his source of supplies, and his secure refuge: in peace, his home." When Wayne in the progress of his march arrived at the Maumee where De- 26 THE I'LOXEER fiance is now, to his surprise he found the country had been abandoned by the enemy, but in his farther advance down the river on the northwesterly bank and when about two miles below the present town of Waterville, he found himself in the immediate presence <>f the confed- erated tribes of the northwest who had assembled their warriors in a well chosen position to dispute his further advance. The phue chosen, some time previously, had been visited by a tornado that had prostrated nearly every tree in that forest and these trees lay as they fell in inde- scribable confusion. That battle ground has thus taken the name of "Fallen Timber/' although some historians desig- nate it. as "The Battle of the Maumee," and others refer to it as "Wayne's Battle." In the language of the missionary, Rev. dames B. Finley, "It was the last united effort of Barbarism to check the swelling overflow of Civilization." This was on the '20th of August, 1794. It should be stated here also as showing the humane spirit of Washington toward these tribes, that while Gen. Wayne came with the sword of an Ajax in one hand, be carried the olive branch of peace iu the other. Four days before the bat- tle Wayne sent a peace message to the tribes, hut it was treated with contempt. Wayne, after making the necessary dis- position of his force, promptly assailed them, lie swept everything before him. Such of the warriors as escaped the deadly bullets of the Americans sought safety in flight. Some fled to the Brit-' ish fort "Miami" below where Maumee now stands. Right here occurred a thing which had much to do in subsequent negotiations between the Americans and Indians. The latter had no doubt been furnished before the battle with arms and ammuni- tion by the English. They had also been encouraged by the English, whether from official sources or not is not so clear, that in ease they met with defeat thev would receive shelter at the fort. The English commandant knew that the fort was there in violation of treaty rights with the Americans. It was on Ameri- can soil. He knew too. that should he give shelter to Wayne's armed enemies it would be a justifiable cause for the Americans to storm the fort. At all events he prudently kept his gates closed and left the Indians to their fate. For this act of perfidy on the part of their friends, the English, the Indians justly made loud complaint and in their treaty diplomacy with the tribes thai followed the Americans made good use of if. Gen. Wayne destroyed all the corn- tields and Indian villages on both sides of the river, and everything else that could shelter or subsist an Indian that he could lay hands on far and near from the Maumee Bay to Fort Wayne and be- yond, built and garrisoned Forts Wayne and Defiance and then marched back to Fort Greenville (now the site of the county seat of Darke county) and went into winter quarters, thus giving the tribes until spring to decide as to their future course; whether it should be for peace or for more war. So horrible a visitation and such con- dign chastisement had never befell them before. They had met a white chieftain who defied all their arts of warfare and whipped them on their own chosen field and whose genius for destruction sur- passed the Evil Spirit itself. The swampy fastnesses and the forest depths of the Maumee country proved no safe retreat for the red man. That ark of safety had been broken. Their protend- ed friends, the king's soldiers, had crept into their fort like cowards and left the Indians to escape the best way they could. There was a logic in all these things which the savage warriors could easily compre- hend. They saw the hopelessness of further contest. In the following spring the leading chiefs of the twelve principal tribes came SCRAP-BOOK, 27 in and declared for peace and during all the early part of summer these chiefs waged a diplomatic war with Gen. Wayne in defense of, and to secure all their rights which would have done credit to the statesmanship of enlightened people. They held to every vital point affecting their interests with the same desperate tenacity with which they had fought the last battle of Fallen Timber. The treaty known ever since as the Greenville treaty, when signed, gave to the United States about three-fourths of the land in- cluded within the present boundaries of Ohio in the south and eastern part. The Greenville treaty line, which be- came important in subsequent surveys, and which is indicated on most Ohio maps, will be pretty correctly indicated by drawing a line from Cleveland south- ward to the northeast corner of Holmes county, thence west to the northwest corner of Darke county, thence south to the Ohio, at the mouth of the Kentucky river. For this they were to receive annuities and other considerations. On the part of the United States, it relinquished all lands north and west of the Greenville treaty line, except sixteen blocks located in various places and roads thereto, known as United States Eeserve lands. The Government also held a protectorate right over the relinquished territory, that is, it agreed to protect the Indians and they agreed not to sell their territory to anyone else. Among these reservations were the. present sites of Fremont, Fort Wayne, Chicago, Detroit, Mackinaw, etc. One among the largest of these blocks, or Reserves, and the one in which we are more particularly interested, in this nar- ration, was one of twelve miles equare at the foot of the rapids of the Miami of the Lake (Maumee). This Reserve in- cludes both sides of the Maumee from the heart of the present city of Toledo to a point nearly three miles above where Waterville now is. Tts southeast corner is the southeast corner of Perrysburg township, thence north, passing through the city of Toledo, twelve miles, west twelve miles, thence south twelve miles (the southwest corner is near the canal opposite the middle of Station island), thence east to place of beginning. The south line passes a little north of Hull Prairie, and crosses Station island east of the center. As Wood and Lucas counties have since been constructed, making the Mau- mee the boundary, to the east limits of the Reserve, Wood county has about two-fifths of this 92,160 acres and Lucas three-fifths. This was the first land in wdiat is now Wood county to which the United States had a clear title and here began her settlements and civilization. Why should we not award Mad Anthony and his hardy soldiers first hon- ors as pioneers with the sword and can- non preceding the plow and ax? At least they may have the honor of being first here in "proceedings to quiet title." How those beleaguered people, penned up in forts, rejoiced when they heard of Wayne's decisive victory on the Maumee, and when, a year later, news of his treaty of peace reached them and they knew they could come forth in safety, how their shouts went up in gladness. An enthusiastic chronicler of that period says : "Peace opened the garrisons, and the valleys of every river resounded with the woodman's ax. Never since the golden age of the poet did the siren song of peace reach so many ears or gladden so many hearts." In the following year, 1796, a treaty was ratified between England and the United States under which all English troops were withdrawn to the Canada side of the boundary, thus removing an- other cause of dissension and distrust and giving Americans possession of De- troit. In the same year a county of colossal dimensions was organized, em- 28 THE PIONEER bracing whai is since Northeastern In- diana, Northwestern Ohio and the lower Peninsula of Michigan, and named Wayne, in donor of Mad Anthony, with Detroit as the county seat. If any white man had lived where Wood county is now and beer in need of a marriage license, or ia\ receipl or wished to attend court, his count} seal would have boon Detroit. The latter place had been the great focus point in the lucrative fur trade, which the French, and later on the English, had enjoyed for nian\ years. The Maumee Rapids, which was con- sidered at the bend of navigation, was, next to Detroit at thai time, regarded as the most advantageous place on the lakes. Brighl visions of the greai city yet to spring up bore bad. oven then, flitted across the brain of many an enthusiastic prophet. Wayne's men bad spread mar- velous stories of the beauty and fertility cf the Maumee country and of the enor- mous catfish and muscalunge in the riv- ers, but always concluded their encomiums with an "if" it was not for the ague. But so lone; as the eountry remained so largely in possession of the Indians it was evident that its advancement would be retarded. In the meantime a large per cent of the immigration was locating north of the Ohio. The west was making history. Kentucky had been admitted into the I"n ion and in 1803 Ohio, with a popula- tion of upwards of 72,000, was admitted, with substantially her present boundary linn is. This now relation at once inspir- ed the people of Ohio with a desire to get the Indian title extinguished in their northwestern border. In 1805 Michigan territory was organ- ized and William Hull appointed Gov- ernor, and in the same year a treaty was held at Fort Industry (now Toledo), at which the United States purchased a strip of country along the south shore of Lake Erie abont fifty miles wide, extend- ing from the Cuvahoga river west to a point on the Lake between Sandusky Bay and the mouth of the Portage river, cor- responding with the present west line of Huron and Erie counties, and south to the list parallel and corresponding with the present south line of Medina, Por- tage, Summit and Huron counties. This purchase formed the western part of what has since been known as the Western or Connecticut Reserve. This important treaty, freeing as it did. that fine body of land covering near- ly the entire Ohio front on Lake Erie, gave a new impetus to immigration from Now England and New York to which the new territory was easy of access up the Lake. Tn 1807 another treaty was made at Detroit by which the United States ac- quired that block of land lying between the Maumee river and the Canada bor- der bounded east by tin1 Lake and wesi by a line running due north from Fort Defiance. In the year following, 1808. another treaty was made which was the beginning of what has since been one of the most important highways in the state, the Manmee and Western Reserve Road. The tribes ceded rights of way for a road 120 feet wide from the foot of the rapids to the western line of the Con- necticut Reserve (east line of Sandusky county) together with a strip of land one mile wide on each side of the road grant given to aid in its construction. Thus gradually the agencies of advancing civ- ilization are opening the way ahead. By this time Peter Navarre and a num- ber of other French families from De- troit, had located on the Bay and later John Anderson, a Scotch fur trader, well known among the Indians, had located a trading post at Fort Miami. Peter Manor, an adopted son of the Indian Chief Tondoganie, also located at the foot of the Rapids in 1808. There was at this time a growing in- terest in this pari of the Maumee conn- SCRAP-BOOK. 29 try, more' especially on account of the extensive fur trade with the Indians. There were then living along the Bay and river aboui eight thousand Ottawa Indians with some small bands of BeveraJ other tribes who made their homes with the Ottawas. Considerable commerce was carried on by light sailing craft, owned mostly in Detroit, the distribution of goods in exchange for furs and other forest products forming the bulk of the trade. This grew to such dimensions that in 1810 the Governor appointed Major Amos Spafford Collector for the Port of Miami. The Major, who also served as Postma ster, was I he first civil officer in ibis part of Ohio. His first quarterly report shows the exports for three months to have been $5,610.85 worth of skins and I'u is. and $30 worth of bear's grease. After careful research and inquiry we are of the belief that to Maj. Spafford belonged the honor of having been the first permanent occupanl and owner of Land in what is now Wood county — the first pioneer. Although the collector's office of the Port of Miami and the Post- office were on the north side of the river, the Major built his cabin on the south side, just above where Fort Meigs was afterward located. Like the other set- tlers, he became a squatter. — C. If. E. WAYNE'S DARING SCOUTS They Were the Eyes and Ears of His Army Welles, Miller, McClellan and Others WAYNE'S prestige as a soldier and his manly, bluff, honest nature drew about him the most adventurous, dare-devil characters on the frontier — men, who not only talked the Indian language, but in all the arts of wood craft, in war and hunting, excelled the Indians themselves. Such men were Wm. Welles and Hen- ry and Christopher Miller. Their com- rades in these scouting expeditions were Hickman, Thorpe, May, Mahaffy and Robt. McClellan. The latter, McClellan, doubtless the most athletic, at least the most active man on foot that ever trod the western wilderness. No white man or savage could escape If McClellan pursued, or could overtake McClellan if he chose to flee, old Andrew Kace, who was with Wayne and afterwards settled on the Maui told of an officer at Greenville, who had a standing offer of a fine horse to any man, red or white, who could outspeed McClellan. He would back off a few paces and spring over a covered army wagon with the ease of a deer going over a seven-rail fence. Then too, in courage and endurance McClellan was unexcelled. To Wayne and his army these men were invaluable. They were the ears and eyes of his army. If he wanted informa- tion from the enemy's camp they brougnt it. If he wanted an Indian brought in alive they brought him and enjoyed the excitement and hair-breadth escapes more than the dull monotony of camp. An account of these reckless dare-devil spies who accompanied Wayne, and their many exciting adventures would make an inter- esting chapter in border history, but like much of that history, it has been lost. H had passed away forever when the act- ors themselves were gone. — C. W. E. 30 THE IMOXKER GRAND ORGANIZATION The Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Association What It Has Ac- complished TI1K Maumee Valley Pioneer Associa- tion was organized in 1864, and its first, president was (ion. John E. Hunt. 1 1 held annual reunions from that time until Sept. 10, 1909, when it was merged into the Biaumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Association, which had been incorporated in 1902, for the purpose of purchasing sites and accomplishing more practical results than could be achieved under the Pioneer Association. Tn re- gard to the work of tin's body, Mr. Evers says : It is fitting that a word of commenda- tion be spoken for the unselfish and de- voted work of the Maumee Valley Pio- neer and Historical Association to re- claim and preserve these historic grounds and care for the graves of those who per- ished in defense of their country. Some of its members have for years lent their influence and put forth their hes! efforts in this work, at pecuniary loss and often under the most discouraging circumstances. And now that their in- domitable efforts are being crowned with success, no one has more reason to rejoice than those faithful and indefatigable old workers, who for so many years have de- voted themselves io this labor of patriot- ism and love. Without these efforts Fori Meigs would aever have had a monument, and the hundreds of graves thereabouts would have remained unmarked in the pasture fields as they have heen in the scores of years that have passed away. All honor to the Association and their co-workers, as well as those of the Ohio Assembly, through whose patriotic action this tardy act of justice to our heroic dead was made possible. All honor, too, to the old Pioneer Association that kept alive and stimulated the interest in social and pa- triotic advancement. Under the incorporation and plan of the Maumee Valley Pioneer and Histori- ial Association, the purchase of the Ken- tucky burial ground was made possible. It is under this business-like method that most of the real progress has been made and so much has been accomplished. This association is still in splendid work- ing order, not for gain or profit ( for not an officer receives a dollar for his ser- vices), but to aid in every way possible to preserve and mark the historic spots in the Maumee Valley and to mark the burial places of the soldiers who laid down their lives in reclaiming the land from savagery and from the rule of kings in Europe. As such, may not this Association tlaim. without overstepping the hounds of modesty, this fine monument overlook- ing Port Meigs and the graves of its dead, as one of its proud achievements? But there is much yet to do. Still, with the aid Ohio has already given, the Associa- tion expects to he able to accomplish very much in the future. With these unselfish and worthy motives, the Association is most certainly entitled to public confi- dence and substantial support. The officers of the Association are: President, D. K. Hollenheck. of Perrvs- burg; Secretary, J. L. Pray, of Toledo. The Association holds its annual meet- ings in Toledo, on the 22d of February. The Fori Meigs Commission comprises the following membership: John B. Wilson. Chairman; Charles W. Shoe- maker. J. L. Pray, ami Wm. Corlett, Secretarv. SCKAP-BOOK. 31 WOOD COUNTY Its Organization in 1820 The Counties In- cluded in Wood Township of Perrysburg WOOD COUNT'S was organized by an act of the Legislature of the State of Ohio, passed February 12, 1820, and took effed April 1, follow- ing. The act provided, "that all thai; part of the lands lately ceded by the Indians to the United States, which lies within this State shall be erected into fourteen counties to be bounded and named as follows: No. 11, to include all of ranges nine, ten, eleven and twelve north of the second township north in said ranges, and to run north with the same to the State line, and to be known by the name of Wood." This included the county of Lucas with the exception of two small fractions taken from the counties of Henry and Ottawa. The two counties remained united until by act of the Legislature passed .Tune 20, 1835, the county of Lucas was formed with the first county-seat at Maumee City. Tn the formation of Lucas county all that pari of Wood then lying north of the Maumee river was severed from the original county of Wood. The channel of the river thereby becoming the bound- ary between the counties. By the act providing for the original organization of Wood county, the counties of Han- cock, Henry, Putnam, Paulding and Wil- liams were attached to the county of Wood to remain until otherwise provided by law. At their meeting on the 4th day of March, 1822, the county commission- ers organized the county, and the terri- tory attached to its jurisdiction into two townships, Waynesfield and Auglaize. The township of Waynesfield was made coextensive with the counties of Wood and Hancock, and the township of Au- glaize included the counties of Williams, Putnam. Henry and Paulding. Maumee City remained the seat of .lust ice of Wood county, and the courts wrvc held at that place, and the other county business was there transacted from the organization of the county in the year L820, until the year 1823. By this time the settlements on the south side of the river at or near Perrys- hmg. had become so large as to require a separate township organization, and accordingly the County Commissioner.- on the 28th day of May, 1823, "ordered that so much of the township of Waynes- field as is included in the county of Wood and lying on the south side of the Maumee river, he set off and organized into a township by the name of Perrys- burg. and that the election of township officers he held on the 19th day of June, L823, at the house of Samuel Spafford in said township.'1 rl nis order organizing all of (he coun- ty of Wood south of the Maumee river into a township, rendered the reorganiza- tion of a township for Hancock county, which up to this time had been a pari of Waynesfield township, necessary, and accordingly the Commissioners organ- ized it into a separate township by the name of Findlay. And Henry county, which by a former order had been in- cluded within Auglaize township, was erected into a separate township by the name of Damascus. Battle at Providence, near Grand Papids. battle on the site of Perrysburg, siege of Fort Wayne, two sieges of Ft. Meigs. Dudley's defeat near Miami, bat- tle of River Raisin, defence of Ft. Stephenson and Perry's victory were all fought on or within 40 miles of the Mau- mee river. 32 TIIK IM0XKK1! DEDICATION Of the Granite Monument at Fort Meigs in the Presence of Thousands Inspiring Addresses by Representatives From Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Vir- ginia and Ohio THE 1st of September, 1908, will long be remembered by the citi- zens of Northwestern Ohio. On that day the beautiful granite monument that now adorns Fort Meigs was dedicated with inspiring ceremonies. The monu- ment rises to the height of 82 feet, and has been erected in memory of the dead of Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Virginia, who Pell in the battle around Fort Meigs during the war of 1812-1813. The Toledo Blade in its description of the monument and the commemorative exercises of that day, says it was on this point on the banks of the Maumee that the progress of the British was forever checked. Here the soldiers of the king, even when amalgamated with the savage hordes of the lake country, met their superiors. The onward march of Brit- ish possession was first checked, then halted and then put to flight. The Brit- ish held Detroit and from that outpost made strenuous effort to encroach furth- er and further upon the lands claimed by American settlers and the American nation. The garrison in Fort Meigs, and the men under Dudley, that brave Kentuckian, and the troops under men like him, declared that the soldiers of the king could go no further. They fought, bled, and hundreds of them died, to uphold that proposition. The Fort Meigs monument says to the people of all the world: "This far the British camey further they could not go, for the volunteer soldiers, many of whom lie buried within the walls from which they fought, so declared." The Monument On two sides of the big shaft are bronze inscriptions, and on the others are phrases in raised granite letters. All four tell of the deeds of these men who fought and bled to save their country from the English, and who, dying, were buried on the Fort Meigs grounds, on which the monument stands. There is nothing extravagant about the monument, no great figures surround it. It is simple; a magnificent stone column symbolic of the patriotic spirit of the people of today, and of their great love and gratitude for the hardy men of the war of 1812, who by their bravery and death, made i| possible to erect a shaft in their memory on United States soil, instead of on a possession of the British. Throe hundred and twenty-two tons of Vermont granite, the whitest and purest, are in this Fort Meigs monu- ment, and twenty-five cars were required to haul the huge blocks of stone. Forming a foundation for it is 6,000 cubic feet of concrete. The base of the shaft is 34 feet square, rising step-like for 16 feet, where rests the obelisk. The obelisk is 66 feet in height, and from the base it tapers from six feet square to four feet square near the top. At the tip it has been cut to a perfect point. In the whole are 3,778 cubic foot of stone. Fight for the Monument The history of the fight for the monu- ment is almost as interesting as the his- tory of the battles in commemoration of which it was erected, and like the history of the war, the story of the monument fight, though bloodless, contains many records of unselfish deeds and noble ef- forts. Especial honor is due to the Mau- mee Valley Pioneer and Historical So- cietv. to the Ohio General Assemblv and SCRAP-BOOK. 33 to Governor Harris, for the labors f.f these made the magnificent shaft a pos- sibility. For years the graves of Ohio's dead in Fort Meigs battles were unmarked Cattle wandered over them, slowly munching at long grass. The burial ground was a pasture. The Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Associa- tion protested, but its protests were little heeded. Then, lest the shame of such a condition should always rest on the heads of the people of Ohio, the associa- tion members quietly bought up land where the dead lay. But the association wanted a monu- ment fittingly commemorating the brav- ery of these heroes, to grace the vicinity of the spots where their tired bodies lay. They wanted a monument that would properly mark in the very heart of the Maumee valley region, the limit of Brit- ish victory and the end of her encroach- ment upon American territory. So, in the Ohio Assembly a resolution was introduced, authorizing an appro- priation of $25,000 for such a shaft. It was pushed by Lucas and Wood county Senators and Representatives and adopt- ed in 1904, but the resolution necessita- ted a further vote on a bill allowing the appropriation. The association worked might and main in the Assembly, night and day. In addition to the author of the measure and its chief supporter, oth- er legislators fought for it, and Gover- nor Harris, himself an old soldier, aided by suggestions and advice to the Com- mission. Successful Issue These efforts resulted triumphantly. The* Ohio Assembly made the appropria- tion in March, 1906, and Governor If;irris at once set to work to bring the monument plan to a completion. In ac- cordance with a provision of the bill granting the appropriation, July 23, 1900, he appointed a commission of three, J. L. Pray, of Toledo, C. W. Shoemaker, of Waterville, and J. B. Wil- son, of Bowling Green, to start the ball rolling. June 12, 1907, the ground on which the monument stands, consisting of River Tracts 65 and 66, comprising 36 acres, was purchased from the Hayes heirs for $10,800. October 22 of the same year the contract for the shaft was let by the commission to Lloyd Bros., Toledo's monument builders. Throughout the winter, stone cutters worked on the great pieces of granite, cutting them to proper shape and size. June 15 of 1908, the stone was on the Fort Meigs grounds. Great cranes rap- idly swung the blocks into place after the foundation of concrete had been com- pleted, and August 1, the last piece was laid. It cost $14,000, or a total, with the grounds, of $24,800, $200 less than the appropriation. While the stone for the shaft was be- ing prepared, interested ones were still at work in the Assembly, with the result that a law was enacted providing for the care and protection of the monument and grounds. By this law an additional appropriation of $5,000 is made, to make improvements in the way of trees, fences and landscape work, and also to erect a cottage, which is now completed for the care taker of the grounds, and to be used as the headquarters of the Commis- sion. Unveiling the Shaft In the morning a salute of four guns was fired by Battery B, field artillery, which came from Toledo the night be- fore to carry out the flag raising cere- mony. A beautiful day, a lavish display of the national colors, the numerous re- freshment stands and comfort tents, the encampment of the battery and the in- spiring Bcene were enjoyed by the thou- sands assembled from far and near. The features of the morning program 34 THE PIOXEER were the addresses of Col Bennett H. Young, of Louisville, Ky., who was a Confederate officer, and J. C. Morgan, of Maumee. Early in the afternoon, Governor Har- ris, of Ohio, and his party arrived, when a salute of seventeen guns was thunder- ed from the field pieces of battery B, under command of Captain Grant S. Taylor. When the bunting which draped the newly completed monument was drawn by the hand of David Robinson, jr., whose father was a soldier at the siege of Fort Meigs, four guns of the battery belched forth another salute and the band burst into patriotic music, which was almost drowned by the cheers from thousands. A beautiful silk flag was presented to the State by the Toledo National Union, which was run up on the 100-foot steel flag pole that will permanently mark the site of the fort, as it stands in the exact center of the ancient strong works. Gov. Harris Presides The assemblage was called to order at 2 o'clock by J. B. Wilson, Chairman of the Ft. Meigs Commission, followed by an invocation by Rev. J. P. Michaelis, of Maumee. Gov. A. L. Harris was introduced as president of the day, and in an address by Chairman Wilson the State of Ohio was presented with the completed monu- ment, through Gov. Harris, who accept- ed the same in a fitting reply. Upon the completion of the Governor's address, he introduced successively the following gentlemen, representing their states : Hon. Robert S. Murphy, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Keystone State. Gen Bennett H. Young, of Louisville, representing Kentucky. Major Robert \Y. Hunter, the repre- sentative of Virginia. Hon. Joseph B. Foraker, of Cincinna- ti, representing Ohio. All of these gentlemen gave terse, vigorous and patriotic addresses, and if frequenl applause by the thousands as- sembled is an indication, they were thor- oughly appreciated. Rev. R. D. Hollington, of Toledo, pro- nounced the benediction, and the patriot- ic exercises were ended. These exercises were interspersed throughout with patriotic songs, render- ed by a choir of 75 voices from Water- ville, which proved to be a most pleas- ing feature, and one that was thorough- ly enjoyed. The night previous was spent in plac- ing markers throughout the grounds, showing different points of interest at the Fort and its surroundings, well cal- culated to give those visiting the spot a more intelligent view of the situation during the memorable sieges of 1813. These were arranged under the direction of the late C. W. Evers, well known as a student and expert in the pioneer his- tory of this section of Ohio. He had worked faithfully several days in assist- ing the Commission to get ready for the commemoration, and paid the penalty for his unselfish and patriotic enthus- iasm in promoting the Fort Meigs monu- ment project. He Avas taken seriously ill and instead of witnessing the fruition of his arduous labors, he passed the weary hours in a hospital. This work, so auspiciously inaugura- ted on that day, will, as the years go by, result in the further improvement of these grounds, and can not fail to elicit the interest of all the citizens of the Valley in its transformation to a scene of beauty well deserving of the memory of the heroic dead. SCRAP-BOOK 35 CENTER TONWNSHIP Something of the Early Pioneer Days Land Entries First Settlers and Other Points of Interest FIFTEEN years ago C. W. Evers gave an extended account of the early history of Center township, from which we condense the following: Benjamin Cox was the first white set- tler in Center township. He built a cab- in near the Portage, on the northeast quarter of section 32, now the Infirmary farm, in the latter part of 1827 or early part of 1828. Collister Haskins was under the impression that Cox did not bring his family in until 1828. Benja- min did not enter the land ; still we must not grudge him the honor of being the first settler, since he located and made his improvements with that intention, but after four years sold out and moved olf. The First Land Entry His sou, Joseph Cox, however, made the first land entry in Center, January 13, 1831, the east half of southeast fourth of section 28, which, in April, 1835, he sold to Joseph Eussell ; the land lying on the Portage, three miles east of Main street, was for years known as the Wil- liam Underwood place. A daughter of Benjamin Cox, Elizabeth, married Jacob Eberly, and was among the most respect- ed of that galaxy of noble pioneer wo- men, who. with their husbands, braved the deprivations of bygone days in the black swam]). Another daughter, Lydia, horn al Findlav in 1817, was. according to Beardsley's history, the first white child to see the light of day in Hancock county, where the same authority credits Cox with being the first white settler. Cox, who had perfor d useful military service in the war of 1812, was a native of Virginia, and seems to have possessed thai restless spirit of mosi <>( the old bor- der men of that day who were never con- tented unless fully abreast of, or a little ahead of the westward advance of white settlements. That class usually led the van and blazed the way. Eobust and fearless, these restless, adventurous fel- lows, were, in a sense, scouts for the more timid multitude then hastening over the Alleghenies, and, like the ocean spray, scattering itself in the valleys of the Muskingum, Scioto and the two Miamis, until in its northward and westward march, it had swept away the Greenville treaty line, advanced to and passed the Maumee. Wrested From Savages That hardy class of men, the coarser, stronger fibre of civilization, was not only useful, but absolutely indispensable. Their like never was before, nor can be again. The conditions which required the hard, dangerous service which thev performed, have passed, never to return. The smoother grooves and easier lines on which we move today demand qualifica- tions so varied and changed that, in our haste to keep up with the march, we al- most forget that there ever was a race of pioneers, our forefathers, who lived in cabins and, with flint-lock guns, freed this land from the bondage of kings and wrested the wilderness from the dominion of barbarous savages. All honor to them. Their manhood and sterling virtues in life can never suffer by comparison with their successors. Uncrowned heroes and heroines they were. Though most of them sleep in graves unmarked with stone or bronze, we can do them the more en- during honor of passing their names and deeds down to future generations on the brightest pages of our annals. Benja- min Cox moved to Indiana, where he closed his life a! an advanced age. Built a Cabin The ne\i entry in Center, after Joseph Cox, was the northwest corner, 48 acres 36 THE PIONEER of section 31, by Joseph A. Sargent, October 31, 1832, lying on Main street next south of the Bender road. For some years this tract was owned by Nancy Flickinger. Sargent built his cabin on the west side of the street, in Plain, where he also owned land. Twelve days later, November 1, 1832, Adam Phillips entered the Infirmary tract, the improve- ii it ii is of which he had previously bought of Ben Cox. The First Wagon In the following spring, April, 1833, Phillips brought his family, wife and six children, out from Stark county, coming by way of Fremont, then Lower Sandus- ky. When he got as far west as Wood- ville with his outfit, consisting of a wagon covered with boards, and drawn by two horses and four oxen, Phillips left the road and followed the Indian trail up the Por- tage through the wilderness to the Cox cabin, being the first man to bring a wag- on through on that route, now one of the best and most traveled roads in the coun- ty; he had taken the precaution to bring two good axmen, Jacob Phillips and! George Hemminger, with him. The Phillipses were so well pleased with the lo- cation that Adam soon after bought more land. Few persons who came into Wood county at that early day were better suited to withstand the deprivations of life here than Adam and Catherine Phillips; both were rugged and determined; they were ambitious to have a prosperous home; their courage and hopes were boundless; everything in those first days looked bright; the bow of promise was great. Alas, how often that bow was to be over- cast with clouds of discouragement — of sickness, of destitution — almost despair; yet this was almost the identical experi- ence at one time or another, of all who came. Still there were few obstacles so great that Phillips would not find some way to overcome them. He was a medium sized, dark complexioned man with keen black eyes, hair long, and usually parted in the middle; he had a loud, clarion voice and though of limited education, he had a ready flow of language and when a bit excited would get off some startling figures of speech especially on religious subjects, which were always favorite themes with Adam. The End of the World He had a striking resemblance to some of the published pictures of Lorenzo Dow. Phillips was in many ways as eccentric as Dow, and his peculiar appearance and voice would attract attention in any crowd of men. Pages might be filled with incidents, both laughable and pa- thetic, told about him by his neighbors. One incident related, whether true or not, suggests how completely religious emo- tions took hold of him at times. It was at a period when the "Millerite" craze was being boldly promulgated, and a day had been fixed upon not far ahead, when the world was to be burned. Some of the zealous Millerites had been dinging the doctrine in Phillips' ears pretty indus- triously until it had to some extent be- come a subject of serious thought to him. One dark night about that time, as the story goes, the smoke house in the yard, where was stored the hams and bacon, took fire and the lurid glare of the rising flames soon flashed with blinding effect on Adam's bedroom window. With a piteous deep moan he sprang out of bed, shouting, "My God, Catherine, the judg- ment day's upon us and my soul is unpre- pared; call the boys," and immediately fell upon his knees, half asleep yet, and began praying so loud that no further fire alarm was needed. This story, en- joyed by none more than Adam's best friends, was told so often on him that it had doubtless like most stories, gained a little by the telling, but is given here in rather an abridged form. Phillips at once took a leading part in all improve- ments in the settlement; at every cabin SCRAP-BOOK. 37 raising or road chopping he was on hand have faded away in the corroding mists and did his part well. of time. A Grand Pioneer Woman When the greal meeting was held at Ft. Meigs in 1840, lie, with his neighbors cut and hauled a buckeye log as Center township's contribution for the log cabin at the fort. Of dame Phillips, his wife, it may truthfully be said, thai she was a good second to Adam in all his worthy efforts. Besides the cares of a large fam- ily of children, she often had to feed from meal ground by her own hands in the mill, sold them by Cox, and also found time to do many generous deeds for her sick or otherwise needy neighbors. None went from her door unaided, if it was in her power to afford relief. With this very inadequate sketch of the Cox and Phillips, the two pioneer families of Cen- ter, it will now be in order to briefly no- tice some others, who came early. These are George Stacy, Thomas Cox, William DeAYitt, Thomas Slight, Jr., and Samuel Snyder, who entered lands in 1833. Joseph Ralston, Joseph Wade, John M. Jaques, Joseph Russell, Henry Shively, Wm. Zimmerman and Adam Household- er, who entered lands in 1834. D. L. Hixon entered his land in 1835. John Muir and William Munn made their entries in 1836. These random notes from the land books, comprising but the small fraction- al part of the original entries and of the names of purchasers, are given here as showing who the first comers were. Most of thes" buyers named became actual residents on their land. Other early set- tlers, such as the Lundys, Klopfensteins, Andersons and others; not enumerated in the list, no doubt bought their lauds of second hands. The chief purpose here is to show who the actual beginners were — a task not so easy after the lapse of three score via is. when nearly all the actors Survey and Organization Center township, originally six miles square, was surveyed by Samuel Holmes, deputy IT. S. surveyor, in 1819; that is, the exterior lines were made. In 1821 the sub-divisions were run by S. Bourne. The county commissioners at their March session, 1835, granted the request for a township organization, under the name of Center, and ordered an election of township officers to be held, on the first Monday of April following, at the home of Adam Phillips. At the time of this action, Center was a part of Portage and had been since June, 1833, prior to which time it had been a part of Middle- ton, since that township was cut off from Perrysburg. When, in 1846, Webster was created, six sections were set off to that township. In 1844, on petition by the residents thereon, the south half of section 31, Middleton, was given to Cen- ter. It lies at the northwest corner on the Perrysburg road, so that as now con- structed, the township comprises 301/0 sections. Converted into Roads The trails between the settlements, at first mere foot paths, indicated by blazed trees, were gradually converted into wag- on trails, barely passable, by voluntary labor among those interested. Some of these trails eventually became permanent highways, since they were usually located on the most favorable ground for the pur- pose. The first object of the newcomer after his cabin was built, was to get into road communication with the market, which in this case was Perrysburg. There lake boats landed regularly in the open season. The first wagon trail in Center, after Hull's trail, was from Cox's cabin up the Portage to Haskins' trading place. The next was the Phillips wagon trail, along the Portage, from Woodville. 38 THE PIONEEB A MEMORABLE FOURTH In Which the Prosperity of Wood County Was the Theme IN commemoration of the completion of the new court house, united with the celebration of the national birthday anni- yersary, i he 4th of July, 1894, proved a day that will long be remembered by the thousands who participated. It was a day of oratory. Among other things .Mr. A. B. Murphy said: "Wood county is the garden of Ohio. "It is unique in its history and splen- did in its record. It is the parenl of many of the counties of Northwestern Ohio. It is rich in soil, rich in intelli- gence, and rich in patriotic history. It lias been the birthplace of ideas that have shaken the continent, and its soil has drank the blood of heroes, and been con- secrated by the bones of patriots. It was here that a mighty party had its begin- ning. It was here that America's great- est leaders assembled in convention, Ew- ing, Harrison and Clay, and Ohio's black son, Tom Corwin, all of them long since sleeping in their graves. The children of this county ought to be taught that it is bounded on the north by Perry's Victory, and on the east by the home of Gibson, and on the south by Fort Findlay, and on the west by the battle ground of Meigs and Miami. "The man who cannot make an honest living here cannot do so anywhere upon this round globe. This county is greater in extent than any one of those famous states of ancient Greece. It comprises more territory than Chris! walked over while on earth, and has more inhabitants than thai Sacred City over which He wept. It is greater in resource, and rich- er in fertility and more splendid in pro- duction than the Holy Land seen in the beatific dreams and visions of the proph- ets, and promised by Jehovah to the He- brew Patriarchs of old. It has been re- deemed by sweat and toil from the woods and the water. It has arisen as all things worth having arise, by conflict and sacrifice. Every achievement in ibis world represents sacrifice somewhere." An extract from the address of lion. B. F. James follows: "With what loyalty and devotion such a county should be cherished. "Young men, study more thoroughly the history of your county; ascertain the steps in its great growth; study the pre- cepts that actuated its founders and de- fenders; let it inculcate in your young minds and hearts a deeper love of coun- try, law and liberty; surely it will instill within you ideas of loyalty and the re- sponsibilities of citizenship. May the summit of that new edifice tower no higher than your worth; may its founda- tions be no firmer than your convictions and truth; may the green and fertile soil of Ibis greal county, on whose bosom it reposes, and which grows great harvests, be no richer than your long and lofty labors in the service of your country and mankind. Then are you iassured a fame which, mid the shadows of a century, will suffer no eclipse." That matchless orator and loyal sol- dier. Gen. Win. IT. Gibson, graced the occasion with one of his masterly efforts. Among many other good things he used this language : "This county was taken from the civil jurisdiction of Logan and at its organiza- tion in 1820, its area covered more terri- tory than many of the European kingdoms. It contained less than five hundred peo- ple, and in 1830 eleven hundred, in 1840 less than six thousand, and in 1850 scarce ten thousand. For thirty years its pro- gress was slow, and in 1860 the popula- tion was little over seventeen thousand. Though the savages were harmless and the frontiers were not disturbed by 'war's dread alarm,' the pioneer settlers in your county were confronted with hardships SI WAP-BOOK. 39 and privations from which the stoutest hearts might recoil. No portion of Ohio presented such difficulties in its develop- ment. The adventurous men who came hither with their families to reclaim the flooded forests and water-soaked prairies, and rear their children, were and are the real heroes, entitled to our gratitude and admiration. ■■In war, the imposing pageantry of field evolution, the touch of dhows with comrades and the shout of battle thrill the soldier with confident enthusiasm, and he plunges into the deadly conflict heedless of all danger. But the Wood county pioneer, remote from neighbors, toiling to open a farm in the wilderness and support and educate his children, exhibited a fortitude and heroism sub- lime for high purposes and manliness. A remnant of those rugged adventurers, who led the way in reclaiming 'the wil- derness ami solitary places' of ycur coun- ty, have been spared to join in this great demonstration and share the festivities of this auspicious day. We greet them as winning heroes, who have earned the gratitude of coming generations! "With bent forms and blistered hands they planned and toiled, that this county might be gilded with inviting homes; en- riched by abundant harvests, and senti- neled with churches and school houses." THE PITTSBURG BLUES Complete List of Those Who Are Buried at Fort Meigs THE following list of the members of the Pittsburg Blues, obtained through a Patriotic Pennsylvania Soci- ety, by the efforts of Mrs. Ellen Mc- Mahan Gaspers, was published in the Wood County Democrat of April IS, 1902. The Democrat says: At last an authentic list of "The Pitts- burg Blues," who lie buried at Fort Meigs, has been obtained through the efforts of the society known as "The Wives and Daughters of the Boys in Blue," of which Mrs. Ellen McMahau Gaspers of Detroit, formerly of Perrys- burg, is president. Mrs. Gaspers wrote the mayor of Pittsburg for information as to this list. This letter was referred to Mrs. Felicia R. Johnson, president of the Pennsylvania society, IT. S. D., 1812, and vice president of the national society, who secured what the Wives and Daugh- ters of the Boys in Blue consider a price- less list. It contains the names of volunteers famous as "The Pittsburg Blues," who fought under General Harrison. One of the three burial grounds at Ft. Meigs was assigned to the noted Blues, and there lie Imried the remains of those who were killed in battle. Here is the list of "The Pittsburg Blues," buried at Fort Meigs, as furnish- ed by M re. Johnson : James Butler, Captain. Mathew McGee, Lieutenant. James Irwin, Ensign. E. Trovills, First Sergeant. J. Williams. Second Sergeant. J. Willock, Third Sergeant, G. Haven, Fourth Sergeant. N. Patterson, First Corporal. J. Benney, Second Corporal. s. Elliot^ Third Corporal. J. Read, Fourth Corporal. Privates R. Allison, D. C. Boss, J. Chess, Clark, J. Davis, J. D. Davis. R. MeN'eal, .1. Me Masters, \. Matthews, J. Maxwell, .1. Marcy, P. Neville, 40 THE PIONEER J. Deal, T. Dobbins, J. Dodd, A. Deemer, J. Elliott, A. English, X. Fairfield, S. Graham, H. Hull, -I. Newman, E. Pratt, J. Pollard, ('. Pentland, M. Parker, J. Park, F. Ricards, \V. Richardson, \\ . Richards, Samuel Jones, (i. V. Robinson, J. Lewis, S. Swift, P. Leorlon, X. Thompson, F. Lonsong \. Vernon, X. M. McGiffin, C. Widner, 0. McKee, .1. Watt, T. McClarnin, ( !. Wohrendorff, George McFall, G. W ilk ins. Mrs. Johnson, in writing Mrs. Gaspers inclosing the above list, says in part: "My own grandfather served under General Croghan and was with him at Fort Stephenson, and I presume at Fort Meigs, so my interest is personal as well as patriotic. "This society which I represent, is com- posed of the descendants of the soldiers of 1812, and we will be glad to co-operate with you in any effort to preserve the battlefields that have become resting places of those who preserved the inde- pendence of the nation. "We have a society in Ohio — Mrs. Greves, of Cincinnati, is president. I do not know how they are working as they are rather new in organization, but will write them to help you if needed." This letter is very gratifying to the Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Association, organized for the purpose of preserving the historical sites of the Mau- mee Valley. Jn this connection it should be said that the Toledo society of the ''Daughters of the American Revolution" is co-operating with the Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Association in its efforts to preserve the historical sites of the Maumee Valley, and that matters have now begun to take definite form. It is now believed that the objects of this association will be accomplished. PETERSBURG VOLUNTEERS These Virginian Heroes Honored by a Granite Monument at Petersburg, Va. DURING the preparation of this Pioneer Scrap-Book, an interest- ing and valuable letter was received by Wm. Corlett, Secretary of the Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Associa- tion, from Wm. M. Jones, Mayor of Petersburg, Virginia, in which the writer gives historical facts concerning a com- pany of Virginia soldiers who fought under General William, Henry Harrison in the war of 1812-13, and who were active in the defense of Fort Meigs and the Maumee Vallev against the combined force of British and Indians. This is the first time a full roster of the officers and privates has been made known in the Maumee Valley. Mayor Jones says that the Virginia company raised in Petersburg to assist in the defense of the Maumee Valley was composed of some of the flower of that stale, and that the city of Petersburg erected a monument to their memory in the local cemetery, consisting of a granite shaft about 15 or 20 feet high, surmounted by a gilt American eagle, and on which is inscribed the following : "Tribute to Patriotism" "In memory of Captain Richard Mc- Rae, late commander of the Petersburg- Canada volunteers in the war with Great Britain. IS! 2, a corps who, under the SCHAP-BOOK. 41 si^al^se-^ ms iSSSSiiS?: r""''--' rfajfrW?"' GRANITE MONUMENT To Petersburg Volunteers at Petersburg, Va. influence of holy patriotism, in the hour •of their country's need, Leaped from their ■downy \>n\± and, foregoing domestic com- forts and eaBe, instantly organized and took up the line of march for the Cana- dian frontier, when, under the supreme command of General Harrison, they mei the disciplined armies of their country's enemies, on the fifth day of May, 1813, :and after a bloody conflict defeated them, winning for their home the exalt- ed and imperishable appellation of the •Co.kadc City of the Union.' " A second inscription is as follows: "Petersburg Volunteers" "Who embarked in the service of their country in the war of 1812 with Great Britain, on the 21st of October, 1812, and consecrated their valor at the battle 42 TILE PIONEER of Fort Meigs, May 5, 1813 — command- ed by Capt. Eichard McEae. "Lieutenants — William Tisdale, Hen- ry Cary, Shirly Tisdale. "Sergeants — James Stevens, Eobert B. Cook, Samue] Stevens, John J I undersoil. "Corporals — M. B. Spatswood, John Perry, Joseph Scott, Thomas G. Seott, Joseph G. Noble, G. T. Clough. "Musicians — Daniel Eshon, James Jackson. "Privates" Andrew Andrews, David Mann, Richard Adams, Anthony Mullen, John Bignall, Uozer Mallory, Richard 11. Branch, Joseph Mason, Thomas B. Bigger, Thomas Clark, Eobert Black, Samuel Miles, Benjamin Pegram, James Page, Thomas W. Perry, James Peterson, Daniel Booker, Richard Pool, George Booker, George Burge, Joseph E. Burtley, \\ 'illiam Burton, John W. Burtley, John Potter, Edmund Brown, John Rawlings, Edward Mumford, George [Richards, Reuben Clemments, William Lacy, Moses Clcmmcnts, William Lanier, James Chalmers, John Shore, Edward Chensworth, John Shelton, James Cabaniss, Richard Sharp, Edward H. Cogbill, John II. Smith, John II. Saunders, John Spwalt, William P. Rawlings, Kobert Stevens, Herbert C. Lafton, Kzra Stith, Benjamin Lawson, James Jeffers, Alfred Loraine, Daniel Worsham, George P. Layburn, Samuel Williams, William E. Leigh, -lames Williams, Benjamin Middleton, John 1\ Wiley, Nicholas Mansenbury, David Williams. On the south face of the monument are the following: "General Orders" "Headquarters District, 17th Oct., 1813. "The term of service for which the Petersburg volunteers were engaged hav- ing expired, they are permitted to com- mence their inarch to Virginia as soon as they can be transferred to the south side of the lake. Jn granting a discharge to this patriotic and gallant corps, the general Heels at a loss for words adequate to convey his sense of their exalted merits. Almost exclusively composed of individuals who had been nursed in the lap of ease, they have for twelve months borne the hardships and privations of military Life, in the midst of an inhospit- able wilderness, with an alacrity which has been unsurpassed. Their conduct in the held has been surpassed by no other corps, and. whilst in camp they have set an example of subordination and respect For military authority lo the whole army. '"The general requests Capt. McEae, his subalterns, non-commissioned officers and privates to accept his warmest thanks, and bids them an affectionate farewell. •T>y command of "William Henry Harrison. "Eobert Butler. "Acting Assistant Adjnlanl General." Edward Tiffin was the first Governor of Ohio and served from 1803 to 1807. Prom 1803 to L810 the seat of govern- ment was a( Chillicothe; from 1810 to 1812 in Zanesville, and from 1812 to 1816 in Chillicothe again; Columbus be- came the capital in 1816. A man named Samuel Charter, living on the Foote farm, went to Girty's Is- land to make sugar. On his return, somewhere near Defiance he appropriat- ed a grindstone and put it in his pirogue with the sugar. He was followed and his place searched, but no stone could be found. Many years afterward the stone was found in a dense thicket about forty rods from his cabin. SCRAP-BOOK. i:; SHIBNAH SPINK Interesting Sketch of One of the Most Active of Wood County Pioneers FROM a lengthy sketch by C. W. Evers of the career of Shibnah Spink, who lived in Perrysburg, we condense as follows : Shibnah Spink of Perrysburg, was one of the early settlers of the county, whose life lias been so largely connected with the genera] history of this county that a sketch of the same must prove valuable as a contribution to the history of this section of. the county. Mr. Spink was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in February, 1802, where he remained until 1811, when his father removed to Chautauqua county, New York. In 1826, young Spink, having grown to manhood, went to Pennsylvania and took a contract, on the Pennsylvania Canal, where he remained about two pears, at the end of which time he went in W'ooster, this State, where he remain- ed until 1832, at which time he came to Perrysburg. At the latter place he open- ed a dry goods, grocery and hardware store, but the crash of 1836-'37 caught him unprepared for such an emergency and he retired from business. From 1837 to 1850 he was chiefly employed in run- ning a steamboat during the summer and in purchasing furs during the win- ter. In the summer of 1834, Mr. Addison Smith, then unmarried, came to Perrys- burg to visit his sister, Mrs. Dustin. Mr. Spink's clerk in the store became fright- ened on account of the number of In- dians encamped near the store and left, Leaving Mr. Spink alone in his business suffering wilh the ague. Mr. Smith was in the habit of spending much of his time in the store and when Mr. Spink was too ill to wait upon customers, would go behind the counter and play the role of clerk. Finally he consented to act as clerk for Mr. Spink, and remained in the store several years. In the fall of thai year Mr. Smith's Bister, Mary A., came to Perrysburg to visit her brother and sister, remaining through the win- ter and the following summer. During this time, the friendship between Miss Smith and Mr. Spink ripened into love, and in the fall of 1835 they were mar- ried; and it is seldom that two more eon- genial spirits spend life together. The Stone Road Tn the winter of 1837-38 the old mud pike through the Black Swamp was so completely worn out and bo impassable for loaded teams thai a tnovemenl was made for the construction of a macadam- ized road from Lower Sandusky (now Fremjont) to Perrysburg. Jessup W. Scott, Capt. David Wilkinson, John C. Spink-, and Shibnah Spink, were select- ed to visit, the Legislature at Columbus, and secure such assistance from the State as would insure the construction of the desired and much needed road. They went in a carriage. As there had been a fall of snow and the ground was frozen they found the roads good and made the trip to the State Capital in three days. After remaining at Co- lumbus a few days and being satisfied that the measure proposed would pass, Capt. Wilkinson and Shibnah Spink de- cided to return home, leaving their two companions at Columbus to see the meas- ure through. On the day on which they started for home, the weather became warm and rain set in, rendering the roads almost impassable. On the evening of the sixth day after leaving Columbus, the two lobbyists reached home, in a sad- ly dilapidated condition, on foot, having left their carriage and baggage eight miles this side of Lower Sandusky. Us- ing their blankets for saddles they 44 THE PIONEER mounted the horses and rode until they reached Toussaint Creek, which stream they found so swollen that it was im- possible to get their horses to the bridge spanning the channel. The whole coun- try was flooded. They put up for the night, and as the weather became cold, and there was little or no current in the vast sea of water before them, ice was formed of such thickness that in the morning it would bear a man. They were fully thirteen miles from home and the Captain was a cripple; but they de- cided to make the balance of their journey on foot. Alter breakfasl the two men started, but before going far the Captain gave out and they were compelled to hire a boy and pony to bring him in. Mr. Spink walked the entire distance, reach- ing home with only the whip and the clothes on his back as representatives of the entire outfit of the Columbus party. Mere of Pioneer Hardships Another incident illustrative of pioneer life in this section of the country, oc- curred at an earlier date than the fore- going one. In the spring of 1833, Mr. Spink stalled out in search of cows, milk being in demand at Perrysburg. He was gone for three days through the country overcoming many obstacles and making a circuit that now could be ac- complished in a few hours. In 1839 Mr. Spink was in the employ of Judge John Hollister, who at that time owned a line of steamboats which ran between Perrysburg and Buffalo, and also transacted a large business as agent for the American Fur Company. Mr. Spink was master of the General Vance. \< there were no railroads in those days, the lakes were the great commercial high- ways and boats ran as long as the river Avas open. On returning from his last trip that fall, after having been absent From his family nearly all of the season, he went into Hollister's store in the evening happy with the thought that he should have a little rest and enjoy the comforts of home, but was told that they wanted him to start the next morning for southwestern Indiana in the interest of the fur company — that somebody must go, and that he was the only person who could till the bill. Hard as was this task and great as was his disappointment, Mr. Spink consented to go, and after remain ing with his family over night, he and B. F. Hollister mounted their horses and started on the journey. The distance to be traveled was four hundred miles, and they made it in eight days, averaging fifty miles per day. Mr. Spink remained in southern In- diana, buying furs and skins until the first of June, when, being an earnest Whig, he hastened to the monster gath- ering at Ft. Meigs in 1840. Although suffering from ague he made the trip in good time. His First Public Office In 1850, when General Taylor was President and General G. A. Jones, of Mount Vernon, was IT. S. Marshal of Ohio, Mr. Spink was appointed Deputy Marshal. His duties required him to visit every house in the county for the purpose of taking the census. In 1830, when Wood county embraced what is now Lucas county, and also a portion of Fulton county, the entire population was less than 2,0*00, but in 1850 Mr. Spink found nearly ten thousand persons liv- ing within the present limits of this county. Elected Sheriff In this year Mr. Spink was elected Sheriff of Wood county. The county was strongly Democratic in politics, but his personal popularity secured success. About this time many leading Democrats became tinctured with free soil senti- ments, and when the Missouri comprom- ise measures were adopted by Congress, many of them joined with the Whigs, SCKAP-BOOK. 45 and the county finally passed into the hands of the Whigs, and since the organ- ization of the Republican party has been strongly Republican. Mr. Spink contrib- uted largely to these results. An en- thusiastic partisan, liberal in his views, and genial in his manners, he was always at work and none could accomplish more. At that time the entire fees of the Sher- iff's office for two years did not amount to over $500 — $100 of which was receiv- ed in cash and the balance mostly was never collected. Beaten for Treasurer At the next election after his success- ful canvass for Sheriff, Mr. Spink was nominated for County Treasurer by the Whigs. At that time John Bates was the strong wheel-horse of the Wood county Democrats, and he was Mr. Spink's opponent. Bates was treasurer for a number of years and it was be- lieved that he could neither be beaten in convention nor at the polls. Spink was equally strong with the Whigs, and the county was Democratic by about 300 ma- jority. WTien the votes were counted it was found that Bates had but barely nine majority. Elected Treasurer When the time came for the election of Treasurer again, the Whigs nominated Mr. Spink. The Democrats were a lit- tle afraid to put forward John Bates for another trial with Spink, so they nomi- nated Samuel Chilcote, who. it was sup- posed, could carry more votes than any other Democrat in the county. Chil- cote was in every respect a most worthy man, but Spink beat him and was re- elected, serving four years in that office. His natural desire to accommodate the people, which often led him to advance the taxes for men throughout the county, and his well known integrity secured for him a degree of popularity with the pub- lic which is seldom enjoyed by persons so active in political work and so decided in partisan convictions. Other Offices Filled In 1862, under the Internal Revenue laws, Mr. Spink was appointed Deputy Assessor, a position which he filled in a creditable manner i'or two years, when the office was abolished. After this he turned his attention to farming, until 1871, when he was appointed Superin- tendent of the Western Reserve & Mau- mee Road, a position which he filled for nine months, after which he continued his residence in Perrysburg and for many years enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. A JAIL IN THE WOODS Its Builder How Sheriff John Webb Kept Prisoners It Stood in a Dense Thicket FEW of the dwellers in Wood county today will remember the old wood- en jail at Perrysburg, indeed, we doubt if there are many who knew of its existence. It was built many years ago at a cost of $486, and the contractors took part of their pay in Perrysburg town lots at $12 each. It was made of square oak logs, cut mostly on the present corporation limits of Perrysburg and served its pur- pose as well, and was as much a terror to evil doers as are the costly structures of stone, iron and brick of the present day. Wood county's population waa then less than two hundred human souls. The projectors of that jail were no doubt 46 THE PIOXEEU aware of the fact there was but little in the county at that time to steal, and that where there is no temptation there are apt to be fewer rogues. This primitive structure served as a calaboose for the confinement of some of the frisky veteran volunteers in the Michigan war, who at times indulged too freely in Maumee ague medicine and then got boisterous. It was located on Front street near the old Exchange Hotel. Sheriff John Webb had charge of the jail, at the time George Porter was im- prisoned in it. in 1830; it stood alone in a dense thicket, the brush and timber hav- ing been cleared away only far enough to admit the teams thai hauled the jail tim- bers. The fine macadamized road now known as Front street, was only a tor- tuous wagon track between trees and stumps. There was no building near except the log court house. Mr. Webb lived in a little house up the river near the bayou nearly or quite half a mile from the jail, and during Porter's im- prisonment Mr. Webb carried him his meals to his dismal cell in the thicket three times a day, and at night locked him in his cell and went home. Such an arrangement would not in these jail breaking times be regarded as entirely safe, but people in those days did as peo- ple do now, made the best of the means they had. In 1823, after the county seat was removed from Maumee, "Uncle" Guy Xearing took the contract for removing the little log jail from Maumee for $45. In 1824 Nearing and Hubbell took the contract of building a court house, also for repairing the jail, which was further enlarge* I in 1826, or "27 by him and Elisha Martindale, though they were not tin1 contractors, Nearing at that time be- ing a county commissioner. The jail, as previously mentioned, was built two sto- ries high, of logs about a foot square, se- cured at the ends by tenons and mortises with a wooden pin through. The floors were of the same solid square timber. The windows were but little more than long cracks where the halves of two logs had been taken out and perpendicular iron bolts passed through for security. There were two dark cells also made of strong solid square timber. The doors were rude massive wyooden structures well spiked with wrought nails and swung on strong iron hinges. The roof, gables and general exterior of the building appeared similar to any hewed log cabin. — C. W. OLD TIME TRAGEDY. Atrocious Murder of Summundewat, One of the Most Noble Chiefs of the Wyandots IN his Log Cabin sketches Mr. Evers gives the following description of the murder of Summundewat, a Wyandot chief : During the autumn of the year 1845, Summundewat. a Wyandot chief from the Sandusky Plains, with his daughter, her husband, seven ponies, two eolts, and five dogs, passed through Portage town- ship on their way to Turkeyfoot, Henry county, on their annual fall hunt, and stopped a day or so in Portage town- ship. While here they visited Jacob Eberly's blacksmith shop on the Portage river, one mile below the present village of Portage, for the purpose of getting a knife and hatchet made, and a gun-sight repaired. In the employ of Eberly was a young man named John Anderson, Avho was quite intimate with and kept the company of one James Lyons, who lived with his widowed mother, on the middle branch S( KAP-BOOK. of the Portage. Lyons, who was consid- erably older than Anderson, possessed all the elements of character for a desperado of the worst type, and dark suspicions rested on him of counterfeiting and other deviltries. The Indians had with them two excel- lent coon dogs, either of which could scent a coon tree without the trouble of t racking the animal on the ground. Dur- ing the visits of the Indians at Eberly's shop, Lyons had tried to buy or trade for these dogs, which he coveted very much, but without success. Lyons and Ander- son both visited the camp of Summunde- wat, and by some means learned that the party had some money. Shortly after the Indians left for Turkey foot, where they were to join an- other party from the Plains in a hunt. The old chief and bis little party had not been gone long, when Lyons and An- derson also left. Not many days after one of these men Avhile passing down the river was noticed to have with him Summundewat's coon dogs. Old Benjamin Cox, who was familiar with Indian habits, and could speak their language, remarked when he saw the dogs that they must have been coaxed away, as no Indian would sell his dogs at the beginning of the hunting season. Not many days elapsed before a start- ling rumor reached the settlement that Summundewat, the Indian preacher, and all his party had been murdered, and on the following Sunday, while the few scat- tering settlers along the river were as- sembled at quiet worship at a little log school house where now is the town of Portage, a party of Indians accompanied by a white trader from the Plains, and led by a chief called Snake-bones, made their appearance, causing a sensation and no little anxiety among the settlers. Anderson Seized and Bound After a brief halt and short parley among themselves, and a few remarks with a man whom they met, the Indians marched directly to the school house which they quietly and almost unper- ceived, surrounded. Anderson, who was in the school house, was almost the lirst man to discover the dusky red men at the door, and divinod their purpose in an instant. He grew deadly pale and shook as if awakening from a dream of horror. The chief singled out the guilty man whom he had never seen before, with that unerring certainty with which a dog tells his mas- ter. Anderson was seized and bound. At that same moment, unconscious of his danger (but with a presentiment as he afterward told, that for three days and nights somebody or some shadow was pursuing him), Lyons was one mile below on the river at Jacob Eberly's shop, trying to induce him to shoe his mare, a splendid race mare, the fleetest in the country, which Eberly did not care to do as it was Sunday. Lyons presently left and passed down the river to where Anderson lived, and waited some time for his return, but of course waited in vain. The settlers after learning of the ter- rible murder that had been committed, and that the blood-stained perpetrators were from their midst, became excited almost to frenzy. Not only because of the cruel and revolting nature of the tragedy, but because it exposed them to the fury and revenge of the exasperated red men, and as may well be supposed gave every assistance in their power to give the offenders over to the law, in order that their punishment might ap- pease the wrath of the savages. Avenging Indians Snake-hones had learned where Lyons lived and thither he led his party, and with that unerring certainty which had enabled him to follow the footsteps of Lyons and Anderson, from the scene of the tragedy on Turkeyfoot to Haskins settlement through unbroken forests and 48 THE PIONEER pathless prairies, and which seems almost an intuition, he soon revealed in that- secluded cabin the evidences of terrible guilt. Mrs. Lyons lay on the bed feign- ing sickness. The chief made a brief survey of the cabin, and, stooping lifted a puncheon from the floor, and the two coon dogs sprung forth. He lifted the bed clothing and beheld the bloody blankets of the ill-fated Summundewat. The white spectators stood mute and aghast. In another place they found the jerked venison and furs concealed, and near by the ponies. They then retired; a short parley followed, and that night a cordon of pickets guarded that lonely cabin. Twice the two sisters of Lyons attempted to pass that line to warn their guilty brother — twice they were sent back. Long after the shades of night had gathered over all and nothing disturbed the silence excepl the hum of the beetle or the song of the katydid, a horseman was heard approaching, and the rider, Jim Lyons, all unconscious of danger entered the cabin. Lyons Captured Scarcely had the door closed on his back ere the wary footsteps of the Wyan- dot chief were heard on the threshold, and all of Lyons efforts to get his favor- ite race mare were unavailing. She would have distanced all pursurers. She was his tried and trusted friend in case of apprehension or pursuit for crime. No telegraph or railways then to out speed her. But no — he was a prisoner, his wily captors gave him no chance of escape. He was bound hand and foot, and, with Anderson, lodged in the jail at Napoleon, the crime having been commit- ted jxx&\ within the Henry county line. The jail was a log building, and shortly after, Lyons, Anderson, and an Irishman confined on charge of murder, all escap- ed. Anderson was afterwards through the influence of friends, induced to give himself up. under promise that he would turn state's evidence. This was done un- der the belief by the settlers that there was another and third party implicated in the crime, of whose dangerous pres- ence they desired to rid themselves. And now, reader, would you like to hear a recital of this dark deed of blood which even at this distant day makes one shudder? If so, follow us through the Confession of John Anderson As has just been stated, suspicion rest- ed on a third party. That man was John Ellsworth, who owned and lived on the farm now belonging to John Z. Smith, in Liberty township. The con- fession of young Anderson more than confirmed their worst suspicion. This Ellsworth, who was a little past the prime of life, was one of the most dan- gerous men of his time — a man who with a certain class of people could gain a strong influence, capable of strong friendship when it suited his purpose. Though professedly ignorant — so much so that he never while here, was known to write his own name or read a sentence, and yet he was one of the best educated of men. It is said that he had, before he removed to the depths of the Black Swamp, saved himself from the peniten- tiary on a charge of forgery by proving by bribed witnesses that he could neither read nor write, and in this state of ig- norance he remained to the world about him, to the last day of his residence in Wood county. A Polished Villain But long after, when all old scores were outlawed, we hear of his occupying the Judge's bench in one of the Western States, to which he emigrated, and to Avhich position he was elected. He was of fine address and plausible demeanor, yet no man more cunning in devising deep laid plots of deviltry and crime, and at the same time keeping his own skirts clear of the consequences. He was SCRAP-BOOK. 49 several times apprehended and impris- oned, but each time managed to break jail and get the damaging testimony dis- posed of, and in some way escape the law, while those of whom he had made tools would suffer the severe penalty. In fact he was supposed to bo at the head of a gang of counterfeiters, horse thieves and robbers. The route of the Indians to Turkey foot led a little north of where Ellsworth lived. Anderson stated that he and Lynns followed the trail until they got in the vicinity of where Ellsworth lived when they went to see him. As soon as he learned that the Indians had money, he volunteered to go along with them, and during the journey he Planned the Murder and Robbery But when they reached a point near the Indians he suddenly stopped and said, "Boys, I can go no further. I am already resting under suspicion, and if this job is done, I will be the first man called upon to prove my whereabouts. I will go back and keep watch of matters until you return with the plunder, which is now to be had for the taking." Ells- worth went home and Lyons and Ander- son went to the camp of the Indians, where they were well treated. The In- dians, said Anderson, seemed to be sus- picious of some impending evil. They were wakeful and restless at night, so much so that no opportunity offered to take their lives, until finally on the third •lav. under pretext of trying to find the oilier party of Indians, they broke up camp and moved about two miles; well had it been for them had they never slopped until they had found the other party. Lyons and Anderson followed at a distance, blazing trees as they went, marking the route. That night they again made their ap- pearance at the Indian camp, pretending to be lost, tired and hungry. They were kindly received, and the poor woman busied herself in getting them something to eat, and spreading some blankets for their bed. By previous arrangement, Lyons was to kill Summundewat and Anderson was to kill the husband of the woman and then dispatch the woman. The Indians had been broken of their rest so much that sleep soon overcame them. A Crime of Horror At a prearranged signal, each of the white men sunk his hatchet in the head of the sleeping men. The poor woman sprang to her feet and implored Ander- son's mercy in such pitiful terms, that he hesitated. Humanity had not entire- ly forsaken his breast; his arm faltered. Said he, I could not strike that woman who had treated us so kindly and never had done me harm. Lyons upbraided him with a terrible oath for being chicken-hearted, and with one blow of his hatchet struck her to the earth never to rise again. They dragged the bodies a short distance and covered them beside a log. They then proceeded to gather up the effects of the murdered people, and lastly the ponies, as they were now in unite a hurry to hasten away. So far all had gone well with them; no human eye was witness to the deed they had done. The depths of the lonely forest far, far from any settlement or habitation, was a fitting and safe place for such a crime. Safe — did we say? — no. not safe. There is an Eye that notes the fall of the sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our head. There is a Power to avenge blood beyond the ken of man. There are witnesses of all our thoughts and actions when we least suspect them. Sometimes it seems as if an overruling Hand directs mute, dumb witnesses to testify. Just as the murderers were catching the ponies lo leave, after having, as they supposed, destroyed all evidence of crime, 50 THE PIONKKU occurred the circumstance which re- vealed all. Two colts that were not tethered and that followed the ponies, were very wild and fled at the approach of the white men. They could not be driven or coaxed to follow, but remained about the place whinnying and making a great fuss. The Crime Revealed It so happened that the other hunting party from the Plains arrived about this lime ;iml passed not. far from the place, and the noise made by the colts was heard by them, and the ponies of the Indians answered the rail of the colts, and the colts soon after joined and fol- lowed them. This was the first intima- tion to the hunters that they were in the neighborhood of the Summundewat party. Still they heard no guns and saw nothing of them. They felt certain, how- ever, that they could not be far off, since the colts would not otherwise be there. After a day or so one of the hunters took the trail of the eolts, and following hack a short distance, came to the desert- ed camp. He soon became satisfied that there was something wrong and reported at his camp. A number of hunters went with him and they soon found the bodies of the murdered people, and with the pursuits and results as before told. An- derson stated that not far from Ells- worth's house the crafty old villain met them and inquired. What luck? On be- ing told what they had done, he said, How much money? They produced it; he took it, and after looking at it said, "Boys this is no place to count money, we will meet again;" and that was the last they saw or heard of the illgotten gold and silver. Ellsworth Involved The confession of Anderson implicat- ing Ellsworth intensified public feeling to fever heat, and the officers of the law were soon after him in hot haste, hut they were too late. He had gone. Re- wards were offered, and he was hand- hilled, and finally was discovered and ar- rested in an out of the way town in one of the western states, but soon made his escape, and finally after Lyons and Anderson were out of reach, he boldly presented himself for trial, and of course went unconvicted and unpunished. Anderson told how they made their escape from jail, which was built, of solid square timber. With an iron poker they succeeded, by long perseverance, in burn- ing a log of timber overhead, filling up the marks of their work with bread so as to avoid detection. On the night set for the escape, they discovered that Lyons, who was a large, full built man, could not work his body through the hole in the ceiling, but he had a will equal to the emergency. He sent Anderson through into the loft. Then stripping off all his clothes, he pushed them through, after which he thrust his body into the hole where he stood, as if he had been wedged. Then commanding Ander son to pull up and the Irishman to push up, he went through after much labor and excruciating torture, leaving a part of his skin on the rough, jagged edges of the timber. Anderson was last heard of in Indiana, where to all who ever knew him he van- ished forever, nor has search or inquiry ever been able to even get the faintest clue to him. Ellsworth, as before stated, went wesl and wore the ermine of a judge, wheth- er worthily or unworthily is a question we leave to our readers. Lyons Lynched Lyons finally came to the surface in California at a court organized by Judge Lynch, accused of a diabolical murder and robbery. He confessed his guilt, al- so to his true name, and confessed to having murdered eight men. He was hung to the limb of a tree, and his execu- SCRAP-BOOK. :.l tion closed the chapter of the trio of blood-stained men, who enacted a dark tragedy which produced a state of excite- ment never equalled since civilization be- gan in the "Black Swamp."' in this connection the editor of the Eenrj Count} Signal, who was well ac- quainted with the murdered chief, "Summundewal was one of the most enlightened and noble chiefs of the Wy- andol nation, and was nol only hold in high estimation by his own people, but LI the whites thai were acquainted with him as well. He hud been convert- ed t<» the Protestanl religion, and was a Leading member in the Methodist church of that nation. He was always a firm friend of the whites, and used his en- deavors to maintain peace and friendly relations between his people and the 'Pale Faces' a1 thai day. Hi:- murder caused greal excitemenl among the [n- dians and the white- al his old home, and quite a number of the latter took their guns and assisted in ferreting out the murderers. These men insisted on staying and guarding the prisoners after their arrest, until court convened, fear- in g thai they would be permitted to es- cape, hut after some time were prevailed to Leave them to the keeping of the jail- or, and we know thai the escape of Sum- mundewat's murderers was connived at, end permitted hv tlio.se who had them in custody." LOGICAL REASONS Both Historical and Sentimental, Given by C. W. Evers Why Toledo Should Be the Place for Holding the Ohio Centenary II will be remembered thai preparations were being made to hold the com- memorative centenary of Ohio's admis- sion into the I rnion, al Toledo instead of Columbus, in 1903. Mr. Evers, at that time gave the following lucid points as to why Toledo should be selected with- out question : I f historical sentiment has anything to do with it. Toledo is the place. Toledo is not only the proud metrop- olis of this section, favored by the prox- imity of river, bay, hike, [glands and numerous railway arteries of travel and commerce, but she is rich in surrounding historic associations which inspire pat- riotic sentiment in the breasl of every American. There is no locality in Ohio ( f equal historic interest. The place where marked events in the story of a nation have transpired — where :_re;ii nets of heroism, or other noble human virtues have been displayed, and have crowned momentous issues with -nee.--, always calls forth emotions of admiration. Who thai has visited Bunker Hill, the phi ins of Yorktown, the tomb at Mt. Vernon, or the sacred precincts of Jeru- salem, has not fell this thrill of senti- ment? ■'II' mch fheiv be, go mark him well," etc. .\luio-i al Toledo's portals on the high of the Maumee is the site of fort Miami, yel plainh distinguishable in its martial outlines cf grassy embankments. It was here a paity of old Count Fron- t< nar'- hardy French explorers landed in the winter of 1679-80, and unfurled the French flag — the first symbol of civiliza- tion ever planted on Ohio soil. In the Mad Race for empire later on, between Gaul and 52 THE PIONEER Anglo-Saxon, France lost, and the tri- color gave place to the cross of St. George; twice since, this same historic spot has bristled with English cannon, contesting the mastery here with the American republic. Farther away, across the river, but within hearing of Toledo's Sabbath bells, is another memorable landmark — Fort Meigs. Memory's filmy thread, in men yet living, almost spans the cleft of time — the short years back, when Ohio's fate hung trembling in the lurid Smoke of Deadly Conflict The misfortunes of war had suddenly transferred the battle ground from the Canada border to the Maumee. The sandy plains, from the Eivcr Eaisin to the Maumee rapids, had drank the blood of scores and hundreds of patriotic Ken- tin kians who had hurried to Ohio's aid. The exultant Britons, with their hordos of Indian allies, had advanced and were at the throat of Fort Meigs, then garri- soned with a small force under General Harrison. This fort was all that stood between the defenseless settlements of southern Ohio and the infuriated savages. The heroic stand made under an almost incessant cannonade night and 'day, the unspoken prayers for help, the arrival of a midnight messenger bringing tidings of nearby reinforcements, and the deadly strife that ensued when that force landed at the fort are among the Most Thrilling Episodes ( ) f war's dread annals. The invaders were driven back, Ohio was saved, and the story of Fort Meigs is an inspiration of patriotic sentiment, heightened greatly by a visit there. The earth work lines, smooth and grass grown, are yet distinct in outline. Its quiet environments give scarcely a suggestion now of grim-visaged war that once frowned on its fair brow. As you glance across the beautiful sweep of wa- ter, your eye rests on the plain where Dudley's brave men were beaten down and massacred by Tecumseh's insatiate savages; where the diabolical revels of the scalp dance Made Night Hideous The waters, as they sweep past, seem to breathe a sad rhythm — a requiem, as it were, in memory of the heroes there, in unmarked graves. But there are other consecrated grounds here; other mailed warriors were here. There were other tragic events, where the nation's safety hinged upon the mar- tial valor of its patriotic sons. Just above the fort and across the river by the road, near the margin of the water lies the huge granite boulder known far and near as "Turkey Foot" Rock Young man, did you ever visit that spot ? No ! Then you should ; there is a sul- phur spring or well near — very strong. John Oviatt used to say it was here Mad Anthony let loose a big blast of sulphur- ous profanity because a few of the red- skins got away alive. This rock is in- teresting in several ways. It is large; no relic hunter can carry it off; it marks the place of high tide in the battle of Fallen Timber; and let me say just here what any soldier will see at a glance, who visits this interesting field, that the In- dians showed soldierly skill in selecting a defensive battle ground. Had not Wayne's Daring Scouts Apprised him of the situation, he might have fallen into a fatal trap, skillfully laid for him. It is not only a battle ground monu- ment, but is believed to be the rugged and fitting mausoleum of a sub-chief, Mas-Sas-Sa (Wyandot for turkey), of the turkey clan of the Wyandots, who was one of the unlucky fellows who tried SCl.'AP-BOOK. 53 to stop Wayne's soldiers that day. The totem, or embletn of his clan was a pic- ture of a turkey's foot or track, which his devoted damraiei! afterwards cat in this rock as a memorial to their chief. Mas-Sas-Sa was not a leading chief, but of all the chieftains, red or white, whose deeds in war have made the Mau- mee historic, none other that 1 know of has a monument. It is a reproach on the enterprise and patriotism of our people, that while we lavish so much on doubtful projects, we neglect to beautify these historic spots and properly commemorate the names of the heroes who came here to deliver the land from savage bondage and from con- quest by kings. It is unpleasant to think what mignt have happened, in case of Wayne's de- feat. Did yon ever think of it? The government was weak in resour- ces. Two American armies had been de- stroyed, and Wayne was leading a third one into the swampy fastnesses of the Maumee — a Veritable River Styx Then, the chosen rendezvous of the allied savages of the northwest, who were aid- i-d and goaded on by British agents and traders. England had advanced from the Canada bordiT and planted her flag and garrison on the Man mee at Miami. Behind Wayne was the buried skele- tons of St. Clair's butchered army, and three feeble settlements on the Ohio from Marietta down, all cooped up in block houses. Blue Jacket and Little Turtle, insolent with victory, had made the Na- poleonic decree that no American could come north of the Ohio and Live. That was Ohio on that eventful August day. No wonder the victory Wayne achieved there thrilled the nation with joy and brought loud acclamations of gratitude From All Border Settlers Wayne was the firs! to plant the sym- bol of the new republic on the Maumee and no power has ever been able to dis- place it. Anthony Wayne was a man of auda- cious courage, skilled in strategy, prudent in detail as Washington himself, invinci- ble and strong of will as Kleber, impetu- ous in attack as Murat and profane as Swarrow. He seemed well fitted for the rough and tumble border warfare Wash- ington chose for him. A fitting monument should perpetuate his heroic memory on the Maumee. Another great actor in border drama, Pontiac, the greatest red chieftain of the north, made his home with his tribe, the Ottawas, on the Maumee just below To- ledo, shortly after the collapse of the startling and wide spread conspiracy which he had planned with consummate ability. Ilis kindred lived there many years. Ilis son Ottuso and his widow. Kan-Tuck-E-Gun Wore at the treaty at the Maumee Rap- ids, 1817, and not ?n Indian would sign until the aged womai? would first touch the pen. Toledo is, as I just said, the focus point where more of historic interest centers than any point in Ohio. The patriotic element love and cherish these associations. It is our duty as loyal citizens to cultivate and encourage pa- triotism in every way. The rising gen- cm lion should be taught to feel a pride in the noble deeds and virtues of their ancestors; it makes us all better citizens and makes our form of government more enduring. With Toledo's enterprise, her reputation for generous hospitality and high standard of social culture, together with her incomparable facilities for handling a crowd and making their comfortable, there ought to be no ques- tion of her standing at the head of the list of candidates for the Centennial. 54 T11K IMOXKKU INDIANS FOILED In Vain Did the Strategy of the Red Hostiles Succeed with Wayne NO sooner had Wayne's column begun its line of march through the wil- derness than hostile warriors assailed the troops ai every opportunity- hung on their flanks, attacked the rear guard, plan- ned ambuscades and by every stratagem tried to draw the army into their deadly toils as they had done with Ilarmar and St. Clair, but in every attempt they were foiled. They always met a warm recep- tion whenever or wherever they attacked the American line. — G. W. E. PIONEER FAMILIES That Settled on the Site of Bowling Green The Martindales and Others IN October, 1832, Elisha Martindale en- tered 40 acres of land directly west of and joining the present fair grounds, and put up a stack of wild hay at a point a ho nt due west of the floral hall, and on I he west, side of (he present. Ilaskins road, where the great willow tree stood, and long known as the Clinton Pay place. That was the first land entry in the present limits of Bowling Green as shown by the records. In the spring of 1833 Martindale brought, his family, and a few household effects out from Maumee, crossing the river on the ice and following, much of the way, the old army trail until he reached the cabin of a settler named Wil- son on the ridge on the Haskins road, where the family stayed until a cabin could be built, except the two girls, Louisa, who later became Mrs. Van Tas- sel and later Thurstin and Eliza Jane, who rnarried Warren Gunn; they were taken over to the Portage settlement and left with a family named Jaques until the cabin was ready. Mr. Martindale, who was a man of restless energy, was nothing discouraged to find his stack of prairie hay had gone up in smoke in a big prairie fire late in the fall, started likely by Indians on their hunting excursions, but went right to work and in less than four weeks had a cabin 18x24 with "shake" roof, ready and his family moved in. They got a supply of meat, from Wilson, who, with a hunter named Decker, took their pick from the bands of wild hogs that fatten- ed on nuts and acorns in the vast for- ests. The giils were brought home, a shelter was made for the cow, a well dug and Bowling Green's pioneer family was settled in their new home. It was paid for and all their own. Soon alter they had got settled the old- est girl, Sally, arrived, bringing with her a gingham dress pattern and other fix- ings for a dress suit. In a few days William Hecox, a young man from Mau- mee, came with a license, and Squire Elijah Huntington, of Perrysburg, on April 15, 1833, solemnized the first mar- riage in Bowling Green. The only neighbors, the Wilsons, were invited, also four friends from the mis- sion station on the Maumee. When the young bride left the humble cabin that day on horseback sitting behind her hus- band on the same horse, there was no rice or second-hand shoes to throw after her; those articles were scarce then. Other cabins followed among them that of Alfred Thurstin, in the year, 1833, who entered land and built a cabin just east of the present Reed & Merry block. — C. W. E. in Wood County Tribune. TECUMSEH Prominent Chief of the Turtle Tribe of Indians — Killed October 5, 1813. SCRAP-BOOK. 57 PETER MANOR How He Was Remembered by His Adopted Father, the Indian Chief Tondoganie PETER MANOR came to the river to le in the year 1808. He had been here prior to that time but not to settle, and he had moel likely acquired a knowledge of the locality through his connection with some of the French Can- adian exploring parties, for at a much '•arli'-r period they hud mode their way up the Maurnee river and carried their canoee from the- head water:-; of the mee to (he Wabash and passed down that river to the Ohio. Manor wa- adopted by the Indian chief Tondoganie and by the treaty at the foot of the Rapids of ■ liami of the Lake, concluded Sept. 29, 1817, his adopted father caused a section of land to be granted to b: The trea ' th<- special request r,f the Ottawas. The grant is in these words: "To Sa-wan-de- or the Yellow Hair or Petar Manor, an adopted son of Tondoganie or the Dog, and at the special request of the Ottawas, out of the tract reserved by the treaty of Detroit, in 1807, about Roche \><- Boeuf, at the village of the -aid Dog, a section of land to contain 640 acres, to be located m a square form, on the north side of the Miami at the Wolf Rapid." This land .it bin the original limit" of Wood county. It wai Hanoi who saved the settlers ;it the foot of the Rapid- from the hor- by the Indian-. He learned of the surrender of Hull from an Indian runner, and that the Indian-, would come in three days1 time and woubl icre all the Yankees in the ralley. * * Manor lost no time in making Mown to the settlers, and they fled, but no' too soon, for they heard the yells of the the -moke of their log 1 down the in their frail bark. Thus tragic- ally ended the first settlement within the limit- of Wood county, and the vacated by the destruction of their houses became the theatre of war, alwavs dread- ful, but revolting when carried on . ! more so, irhen those claiming to be Christians, use the -. scalping knife. LITTLE TURTLE The Wisest Indian Diplomat, Remained Faith- ful to the Greenville Treaty IX making the Greenville treaty, Gen. Wayne, who was a pretty skillful, far- d diplomatist, nearly found his match in some of the Indian chiefs who displayed wonderful tact and crude -nip. Especially was this true of Little Tun • -kill, tenacity and faithfulness in bring to guard the rights of all the tribes, won encomiums even from hi- enemies. It ma f rth'-r said of this Indian and of his tribi Miarni-; that after the toe* :gned mained faithful fries '] be same can not be said of some of the other tribes, especially a portion of whom, under ] and his: brother, turned ag • in the war wit' in 181?.—^. W. E. Wapako: (he borne of 'I and Logan, where their families lived. the famous Shawanese chief, tmseh, being of thai dian war 58 Tlltt PIONEER ELOQUENCE OF TECUMSEH His Forcible Address to Gen. Proctor in B*- half of His Warriors WIIK.X Proctor began to make pre- parations to retreat from Maiden, the quick eye of Tecumseh soon detected it. He called his warriors about him and in their behalf addressed Proctor as fol- lows : "Father, listen to your children ! You have them now all before you. The war before this, our British father gave the hatchet to his red children, when our old chiefs were alive. They are now dead. In that war our father was thrown on his back by the Americans; and our father took them by the hand without our know- ledge; and we are. afraid that our father will do so again this time. "Summer before last when I came for- ward with my red brethren, and was ready to take up the hatchet in favor of our British father, we were told not to be in a hurry, that he had not yet deter- iniiii'd fco fight the Americans. Listen! When war was declared, our father stood up and gave us the tomahawk, and told us that he was then ready to strike the Americans; that he wanted our assist- ance, and that he would certainly get our land back, which the Americans had taken from us. "Listen! When we were last at the Rapids, it is true we gave you little as- sistance. It is hard to fight people who live like groundhogs. Father, listen ! Our fleet has gone out; we know they have fought; we have heard the great guns; but we know nothing of what has happened to our father with one arm. (Commodore Barclay, who had lost an arm in some previous batllo.) Our ships have gone one way, and we are much as- tonished to see our father tying up every thing and preparing to run away the other, without Letting liis red children know what his intentions are. You al- ways told us to remain here and take care of our lands, it made our hearts glad to hear that was your wish. Our great father, the king, is the head, and you represent him. You always told us you would never draw your foot off British ground; but now, father, we see that you are drawing hack, and we are sorry to see our father doing so without seeing the enemy. We must compare our father's conduct to a fat dog, that carries its tail on its back, but when affrighted, drops it between its legs and runs off. Father, listen ! The Americans have not yet de- feated us by land; neither are we sure that they have done so by water; we, therefore, wish to remain here and fight our enemy, should they make their ap- pearance. If they defeat us, we will then retreat with our father. "At the battle of the Rapids (Wayne's) in the last war, the Americans certainly defeated us; and when we returned to our father's fort at that place, the gates were shut against us. We were afraid that it would now be the case; but in- stead of that, we now see our British father preparing to march out of his gar- rison. Father, you have not the arms and ammunition which our great father sent for his red children. If you have an idea of going away, give them to us, and you may go and welcome, for us." Shortly after the delivery of this speech a considerable body of Indians abandon- ed General Proctor, and crossed the strait to the American shore. — C. W. E. The coldest day on record in this coun- ty was January 26, 1873, when the mer- cury stood 30 degrees below zero. Gen. TjoBauni, in 1780 attempted to capture Fort Wayne, known then as Ivekionga. hut was defeated and his en- tire command massacred. SCRAP-BOOK. TECUMSEH DESCRIBED By Gen. Leslie Combs of Kentucky, as He Saw Him GEN. LESLIE COMBS, in a letter to the Historical Record in 1871, gives the following description of the Doted Indian Chief, Tecumseh: You ask me for a description of the celebrated Indian warrior, Tecumseh, from my personal observation. I answer that I never saw the great chief but once, and then under rather exciting circum- stances, but I have a vivid recollection of him from his appearance, and from inter- course with his personal friends, I am - 'I of an accurate knowledge of his character. I was, as you know, one of the prison- ers taken at what is known as Dudley's defeat on the banks of the Maumee river, opposite Fort Meigs, early in May, 1813. Tecumseh had fallen upon our rear, and we were compelled to surrender. We were marched down to the old Fort Miami or Maumee, in squads, where a terrible scene awaited us. The Indians, fully armed with guns, war clubs and tomahawks — to say nothing of scalping knives, had formed themselves into two lines in front of the gateway be- tween which all of us were bound to pass. Many were killed or wounded in running the gauntlet. Shortly after the prisoners had entered, the Indians rushed over the walls and again surrounded us, and rais- ed the war-whoop, at the same time mak- ing unmistakable demonstrations of vio- lence. We all expected to be massacred, and the small British guard around us were utterly unable to afford protection. They called loudly for General Proctor and Colonel Elliot to come to our relief. At this critical moment Tecumseh came rushing in, deeply excited, and denounced the murderers of prisoners as cowards. Thus our lives were spared and we were sent down to the fleet at the mouth of Swan Creek (now Toledo) and from that place across the end of the lake to Huron and paroled. I .dial I never forget the noble counten- ance, gallant bearing and sonorous voice of that remarkable man, while addressing 1 1 is warriors in our behalf. Ee was then between forty and forty- five years of age. His frame was vigor- ous and robust, but he was not fat, weigh- ing about one hundred and seventy pounds. Five feet ten inches was his height, lie had a high, projecting fore- head, and broad, open countenance; and there was something noble and command- ing in all his actions. He was brave, humane and generous, and never allowed a prisoner to be massacred if he could prevent it. At Fort Miami he saved the lives of all of us who had survived run- ning the gauntlet. He afterwards re- leased seven Shawanese belonging to my command, and sent them, home on parole. Tecumseh was a Shawanese. His name signified in their language, Shooting Star. At the time when I saw him he held the commission of a Brigadier Gen- eral in the British army. I am satisfied that he deserved all that was said of him General Cass and Governor Harrison, previous to his death. The names of the settlers who located within the limits of Wood county, prior to 1810, so far as can be ascertained, are Maj. Amos Spafford, Andrew Race, Thomas Learning. Halsey W. Learning, James Carlin, Win. Carter, George Bla- loek. James Slawson, Samuel H. Ewing, Jesse Skinner. David Hull, Thomas Dick, William Peters, Ambrose Hiekox, Richard Gifford ; these all resided within a radius of five miles of the foot of the rapids. €0 THE PIONEER DEATH OF TECUMSEH Killed at the Battle of the River Thames and His Body Skinned GEN. GEORGE SANDERSON, who died in 1871, at Lancaster, Ohio, was with Gen. Harrison in the battle of the river Thames, as a Captain in the regular army. Regarding Tecumseh's death Gen. Sanderson says: My company shared in the glorious rout of Proctor and his proud army, that result being attained by the victory at the river Thames. It was on the memor- able clay, October 5, 1813, that Tecumseh fell. I remember Tecumseh. I saw him a number of times before the war. He was a man of huge frame, powerfully built, and was about six feet two inches in height. I saw his body on the Thames battlefield before it was cold. Whether Colonel Johnson killed him or not, I can- not say. During the battle all was smoke, noise and confusion. Indeed, I never heard any one speak of Colonel Johnson's having killed Tecumseh until years afterwards. Johnson was a brave man, and was badly wounded in the bat- tle in a very painful part — his knuckles — and also, I think, in the body. He was carried past me on a litter. In the even- ing cm the day of the battle I was ap- pointed by General Harrison to guard the Indian prisoners with my company. The location was near a swamp. As to the report of the Ken tuck ians having skinned Tecumseh's body, I am personally cognizant that such was the fact. I have seen many contrary reports, but they are untrue. I saw the Kentucky troops in the very act of cutting the skin from the body of the chief. They would cut strips about a half a foot in length and an inch and a half wide, which would stretch like gum elastic. I saw a piece two inches long, which, when it was dry, could be stretched nearly a foot in length. That it was Tecumseh's body which was skinned I have no doubt. I knew him. Besides the Indian prisoners under my charge continually pointed to his body, which laid close by, and uttered the most bewailing cries at his loss. By noon the day after the battle the body could hardly be recognized, it had so thoroughly been skinned. My men covered it with brush and logs, and it was probably eaten by wolves. Although many officers did not like the conduct of the Kentuckians, they dare not interfere. The troops from that state were infuriated at the massacre at the river Raisin, and their battle cry was, "Remember the River of Raisin." It was only with difficulty that the Indian prisoners could be guarded, so general was the disposition of the Kentuckians to massacre them. ERASMUS D. PECK, M. D. The Record of a Busy Life — One of the Leading Physicians of Our Early History ERASMUS I). PECK, so well known to the older citizens of this county, was born at Stafford, Conn., September 16, 1808, and died December 25, 1876, at the age of 68. His medical education was obtained at Yale College and Berk- shire Medical College, graduating from the latter in 1827. He came to the Mau- mee Valley and settled in Perrysburg in 1834, and at once engaged in the arduous duties of his profession. Aside from his profession Dr. Peck for nianv vears engaged in many business en- SCRAP-BOOK. 61 terprises. Among these may be enumer- ated drugs, merchandise, ship building, hardware, warehousing and flour-mill. He also built the hydraulic canal at Per- rvsburg. Jn all his money-making he turned it to some practical account. He did not keep it for show, nor wear it for ostenta- tion. As soon as earned, it was invested in some useful occupation. There was in his composition but little of the imag- inative. Dreams and visionary theories he discarded, and with wonderful tenac- ity clung to the practical business of the cnii 11 try, and through life kept every dol- lar employed in active business. At the election in the spring of 1869, he was elected to Congress to fill the va- cancy caused by the death of Hon. T. H. Hoag, who had beaten Mr. Ashley the fall before. He was re-elected in the fall of the next year for the full term. At both of these elections, the citizens of Perrys- burg testified to the high esteem in which they held him, by largely ignoring party and casting almost the entire vote for him. His Work During the Cholera In a paper read before the Maumee Valley Pioneer Association on the char- acter of Dr. Peck, among other things Hon. Asher Cook said: "I feel the story of the doctor's life would be incomplete without some ac- count of his noble work during the chol- era, which raged with unexampled fatal- ity at Perrysburg in the summer of 1854. Between the 20th of July and the middle of August one hundred and twenty per- sons died. Many of the citizens left, and of those who remained, all who did not die were engaged in taking care of the sick and burying the dead. Stores were closed and business suspended. No one came to the suffering town. Even trav- elers whose route lay through the town wen! round it. The reality of death Btared every one in the face. At first the terror and excitement among the citizens were indescribable, and all who could sought safety in flight. Some of these indiscreetly advised Dr. Peck to go with them, telling him he could not stop the progress of the epidemic, and he was only exposing himself unnecessarily, where his labors would he unavailing, and in all human probability he would lose his own life without saving others. But amid all the consternation around him, he was cool, although he had greater cause of alarm than any, being constantly exposed. The door of his drug store was left open night and day, and the people helped themselves to such medicines as he would direct them to take, as he met them on his rounds to visit the sick and the dying. At the commencement of the epidemic his partner, Dr. James Robert- son, was among its first victims. This left him alone to contend with this in- comprehensible destroyer single-handed. But he never faltered, nor for a moment quailed before the death-dealing scourge, that was blindly putting forth its unseen power, which killed where it touched. Wearied and worn down by constant fa- tigue, he nevertheless rallied his powers, and hurried with unfaltering footsteps to each new demand for his aid. "During those days and nights of ter- rible anxiety and suffering, he was al- most constantly on the go, in no instance refusing to obey a call, until threatened with inflammation of the brain from loss of sleep. The citizens placed a guard around his house at night, to keep away callers, and allow him a few hours' rest to prepare him for the labors of the com- ing day. "His answers to those who sought to induce him to abandon his duty, was: I came to Perrysburg to minister in lie nek. and 1 shall not abandon them now when (hey most need my services. The physician's place is at the bedside of the sick and dying, not by (he side of roses in gardens of pleasure." 62 THE PIONEEE MAHLON MEEKER His Early Settlement in Plain Township His Hard Struggle Incidents of His Pioneer Days MAHLON MEEKEK, who came to Wood county in 1833, passed away in 1876, aged ?8 years. He came from Butler county, where he Left his wife and two children, until he should find and locate their future home. In company with Johnston White, a resident of Mil- tonville, he visited, says the Wood County Sentinel (edited by 0. W. Evers), the beautiful wild meadow north of what is now Bowling Green, and discovered, accidentally, a large stool of clover in blossom, the only thing in the tame grass line he had seen since he left But- ler county. He called White to him and said: "I am not afraid to trust myself on land that will grow such clover as this." That spear or stool of clover, Mr. Meeker thought, grew near where he aft- erward built his barn. That circum- stance decided him in his location. He hnilt his cabin there. Afterwards he went to Bucyrus and entered the land for $1.25 per acre, and owned and lived on it to i he time of his death. Startling Incident Mrs. Meeker says after she arrived and saw what a desolate life lay before them her heart sank within her, and only for her children, she would have prayed God to relieve her from further struggle with a Life of discouragement. One night shortly after her arrival and during the absence of her husband, she heard the voice of a woman screaming from a little pole shanty about a quarter of a mile dis- tant where a family named Decker had just moved. She did not dare leave in the darkness, hut next morning went over and found a dejected looking woman sit- ting before the fire cracking walnuts, while over against the side of her shanty on the puncheon floor, lay her husband, Jesse Decker, dead. He had died in convulsions from an overdose of turpen- tine taken for some bilious ailment. Mr. Meeker and a man named Howard broke their way through the ice to the Otsego mill with a yoke of oxen, got some rough hoards and a few nails with which they made a rough box and hauled Decker's bedy to the ridge known as Union ceme- tcry, and the burial, which was perhaps the first at that place, was conducted without, ceremony. Mr. Meeker was an excellent and exem- plary citizen, a sincere friend and kind neighbor. Before his death he was the oldest pioneer of Plain township. By his enterprise in early introducing im- proved varieties of fruit and live stock, he contributed in no small degree to the advancement of the central part of the county and may justly be classed first among useful citizens. 'LAND SHARKS" Mahlon Meeker's Narrow Escape from Being the Victim of One NEARLY all the land in Plain town- ship at one time belonged to the government and was subject to entry. Most of the settlers, at first "squatted" on a tract, and began improvements, trust- ing to the future to get the means to entei- land. But in too many cases on account of sickness or wet seasons it re- quired their utmost efforts to gain even a tolerable subsistence, let alone getting anything ahead, and many of them lost all the fruits of their labor by those ghouls of the western frontier, called "land sharks." Mahlon Meeker narrow- PETER NAVARRE The Farr.ous Sccul Under General Harruon. si i;ap-book. Go ly escaped becoming a victim to one of these land plunderers. He had made considerable opening before he got ready to pay for his land. There came into the locality a fellow who pretended to be buying cattle. The -Hanger bought no cattle, however, but in conversation at John Wilson's, where he -lopped to feed his horse, he let drop some remark by which Mrs. Wilson at once detected his business. She went at once to the Meekers, and on his return borne that night she told him the business of the stranger. Mr. Meeker went to Perrysburg that night, borrowed the money of John Hol- lister and immediately took an Indian trail for Bucyrus, which was the U. S. land office for this part of the state. He rode as far as his horse could carry him the first day, then left his horse and footed it all night. He made his entry at the register office and went from there to the receiver's office. On returning short- ly afterward to the register's office he was told by the officer that a man had been there only a few minutes after him to en- ter the same land. In his description Meeker at once recognized the bogus cat- tle buyer, who was just a little too late. — - C. W. E. GRAND RAPIDS The Original Plat Made in 1831 Petitioned For and Located Roads F1B.ST of the villages laid out in Wes- ton township, was Gilead, now called Grand Eapids. The first or original plat of Gilead was made by J. N". Graham in 1831. In 1832, Guy bearing built a saw mill at Bear Rapids on the Maumee, and with Joshua Chappel, laid out the vil- lage of Otsego, which for a time bid fair to outstrip its competitors in growth and importance, but in the progress of human affairs, the village died as did the vil- lage of Benton, which David Hedges laid out, about one and a half miles below Otsego. All travel to and from Gilead, was along the river road to Perrysburg, at the head of navigation on the Maumee river, from which place all goods, pro- visions, etc., destined for the up-river settlements must be hauled, over the al- most impassable roads with ox-teams, and all the peltries accumulated and produce raised must seek a market down the river in like manner. In 1828, Alexander Brown and his father-in-law, Jos. North, were the first settlers to move back from the river into the dense forests that lay thick and dark between the river and the broad, grassy swamp known as Heeler's prairie. Mr. Brown located a heavily timbered tract of land along Beaver Creek, or as it was also then called, "Minard's Creek," and built the first cabin in a beautiful beech and maple grove. The beautiful bluff banks of Beaver Creek, covered thickly with forests of sugar maple, beech, oak and hickory timber, rapidly attracted the attention of settlers, and ere long Mr. Brown had neighbors on all sides of him. Cutting Out First Road The first township road petitioned for and located, was the road from Grand Bapids to a little above Potter; where it intersects the Wapakoneta road. It was located in the fall of 1830, and was the first regularly surveyed road leading from the river into the wilderness of the in- terior. Its length was a little over four miles and all the distance was through M THE PIONEER the mosi dense forest imaginable, such as the Maumee country was justly cele- brated for along in the "thirties." The Wapakoneta road was not all cleared put yet at tins time, so Alexander Brown took a contract to chop the limber out of a portion of the road from Gilead to the Wapakoneta load, and also for ten miles up the "YVapak" road. This furnished employment for a number of the settlers during the winter of 1830 and '31. The first choppers camped on their work. The first camp was near what is known as the John Pugh farm, in the edge of Henry county. There was at this point a deserted Indian village, and in the bark wigwams of the Indians, the chop- pers found shelter. The next road laid out in the township was thai very accommodating road still in use. called "the Gilead road/' which ran about, wherever there was drv land enough, and wherever there was a set- tlement, and finally brought up at Collis- ter Haskins' place, where the Findlay road strikes the Portage river. Ofe the surveyor's map of the road made and filed with the commissioners, the place where Ralph (). Keeler and his herders were camped on the Hollister cattle ranch, was called "Hollisters Prairie." This was the first name applied to the Keeler prairie and the settlement which afterwards became "New Westfield," Westfield, Taylortown and finally Weston. This road gave greal latitude to the en- gineer who surveyed it. and he followed the "best" route frequently when not really the "nearest," though the old "Gilead road" is still one of the best roads as well as one of the most used roads and is the nearest route still, from "Hollisters Prairie" to Gilead. It was completed in 1834. — C. W. E. AN ILLUSTRATION Showing a Desire for Social Friendship John Gingery's Disappointment TO illustrate the neighborly instinct, and desire to be sociable, felt by all settlers in a new country, Uncle John Gingery tells the following story: The choppers were at this time camp- ed at what is known as Wilcox's bend, in Beaver Creek. One morning in mid- winter found the choppers* camp bedded in a foot of snow, and a stiff blizzard blowing from the northwest. Uncle John, driven out early by the cold, set about kindling up the smouldering camp fire. While engaged at this, he heard away off to the southeast, dim through the quiet of the frosty morning air, the faint, shrill crow of a rooster. Much elated at this evidence of growing civil- ization, and the proximity of Christian neighbors, he at once set out in the di- rection indicated by the voice of the rooster, to make the acquaintance of the venturesome owners of the bird; guided by the occasional crowing, he floundered on through the dec]) snow, over logs and through tangled brushwood, for more than a mile, and at last pulled up at a miserable little settlement of Indians on the banks of Beaver Creek. Uncle John looked about for the rooster, and at length spied him. tied with a piece of bark by the Leg to the hut of his red skinned captor. The little fellow crowed as merrily as ever he did in the civ- ilized settlements, from which he had un- doubtedly been stolen by a chicken loving Indian. Uncle John didn't regret the tramp of over a mile, as the cheerful little bird had taught him a good lesson on making the best of circumstances, and SCRAP-BOOK. 67 li» returned to his eamp withoul disturb- ing the sleeping braves, but with a strong desire to pumme] the red skin that stole the chicken. On his way back to the choppers' camp, Uncle John found that his trail had been crossed by an enor- mous bear's trail, but, unarmed as he was, he was glad not to have a near in- terview, as at that season of the year, they were apt to be hungry and fero- cious. As their job of chopping was nearly completed, Mr. Gingery and Mr. Brown arranged to visit that locality and have a grand hunt, which they did in Febru- ary, camping in their old chopping camp, and securing a fine lot of bear pelts, and other game, without injur}' to themselves, bul losing several of their dogs from the Km ardent embraces of old bruin. Bear hides were worth from six to seven dol- lars each at Perrysburg at that time. FISH AND AGUE Two Distinguished Characteristics in the Early Period of Maumee Valley History SOLDIERS who came with Mad An- thony to the Maumee country, never afterward tired of extolling its beauties, its fertility, its line forests of oak. walnut, poplar and other valuable timber — its rivers swarming with the lovely musca- lunge and sturgeon, its myriads of "red horse" (suckers), the gamey black bass and the fat, lubberly cat fish of such enormous proportions that a single fish made a meal for one of Wayne's cavalry companies at Defiance. If the few old settlers now left on the Maumee were to explain to the present generation the numbers and size of the fish of the early times they would be suspected of having bad memories or of telling professional fisherman's "yarns." But there wrw other things about these rivers not so enticing as its fish — its fever and ague. It was not usually fatal, but it was dreadfully uncomfortable. Few escaped it. Wayne's soldiers had it. lie dosed them with whisky as his surgeon's reports show, hut Mononghahela whisky was no match for Maumee ague in those days — in fad the fish and ague seemed to have held, for size and number, nearly relative proportions; they were hard to beat. The soldiers and early pioneers had two theories about how they got the ague. Some thought it was carried by a malarious poison in the air, arising from decaying vegetation. Others thought it got into their systems through the fish they ate. Both sides of the question had plenty of advocates and both proved the truth or fallacy of their theory as might be, by having the ague. All had it. it was no respector of persons. It was a singular complication or com- bination of attacks on the human sys- tem. The victim begun the ordeal with a feeling of extreme chilliness: lips and linger nails turned blue as if the blood were stagnant. Then greater chilliness followed by shivering and chattering of teeth. By this time the victim, feeling as if every bone in his body would break, had crawled into bed if he was fortunate enough to have one. and call for more cover, shaking meanwhile as if just out of an icy river in a bleak day. This chilly period lasted from three- quarters of an hour to one hour or more, and was followed by a raging fever in which the patient constantly called for more water which he gulped down by the quart, and still the thirst was unquenehed and unquenchable. This \\'\i'V in turn would be followed 68 THE PIONEER by a relaxation of the system and the nios! profuse and exhausting perspiration until the sheets and clothing would be wringing wet, leaving in the clothes a disagreeable odor hard to describe, but ill- ways the same. There was no mistaking an ";igue sweat" by its odor. From this "siege" of three or four hours tin patient would rise weak and dizzy and go about his or her duties and, as the ague fit only came on in most cases every other day, the patient had some respite in which to recruit a little. Usu- ally in the "off" day the patient would Ik: tormented with almost, an uncontroll- able hunger. Quinine, when it could be had was the chief antidote. The ague and chill fever as it used to be known, is seldom heard of now. With the clean- ing up and drainage of the land it has passed away or taken some new form of development in the system. The last general epidemic of ague was in the wet seasoD of 1852.— G. W. E. PETER NAVARRE The Famous Indian Interpreter and Gen. Harrison's Scout THE stirring events of the early life of one of Maumee's most active and loyal citizens, in his day, Pierre Na- varre (Peter Nevarre), should have been preserved, if it had been possible; but being an uneducated man, he was little known after the war closed except by a few of his old and intimate friends. This energetic young Frenchman, was a favorite scout and runner of General Harrison's and other officers during the war, and was much employed, both be- fore and after the close of the war, in carrying important dispatches for the Government, from Detroit to the settle- ments at the foot of the Maumee, and also to Fort Wayne, and down the Wa- bash and as far west as Vincennes and SI. Louis. He was employed as Indian interpreter at the councils held on this inil the Wabash rivers, as trusty scout sent with notice to the different tribes, when a council was to be held by the agents, or officers of the Government or army; knew all intricacies of the wind- ing Indian trails, that led along the rivers, and across wide prairies from one point to another, and always knew where to find the different hunting parties on their remote hunting grounds. I met, and afterwards became well ac- quainted with an old Pottawatomie chief, Captain Billy Colwell, on the upper Mis- souri, in 1840, who was well acquainted with Navarre. Capt. Colwell was in the immediate command of the Pottawa- tomies, at the battle of the Thames, and described Peter as one of the most active and dangerous of the scouts of Harrison on that bloody field. The chief attempt- ed several times during the day to get a shot at the wily scout (as he was easily recognized in his highly ornamented suit of buckskin), but at each time was elud- ed, when the sights of his rifle were al- most drawn upon him. Capt. Colwell gave Navarre credit for being the most active on foot and in general movements on a field of battle, that he ever knew. These men mot frequently after the war, and became fast friends, being about the same age, both having passed through many of the same stirring scenes of that day. These worthy men have both gone to SCRAP-BOOK. 09 1 1 1( i r I . . 1 1 Lf rest Petej Navarre, Lies lu fhc little French burying ground near the mouth of the Maumee, and the old Pottawatomie chief, Capt. Colwell, is taking his last, sleep, on the east bank of the Missouri, near Council Bluffs. \Vli;ii an interesting history could have been written of the stirring incidents of the early settlements of this country, in which these men were among the active; Inn 1 1 1 < • \ are ;_">ne, and many of the in- cidents of historic interest are buried with them. I>. W. II. Howard. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1840 The Great Tide Which Carried Harrison into the Presidential Chair The Monster Gathering at Fort Meigs Who Placed That Log in the Well at the Fort Till-; following account of the cam paign of J 8 JO. and the monster meeting al Fori Meigs in thai year, was written h>. Mr. »'. W. Evers, and pub- lished in the Sentinel -ohm- years ago: Perhaps the most remarkable event in tin- political history of this country, was the campaign of 18 10. (Jeneral I larrison was the Whig candidate for tin- Presi dency in 1836, bul suffered defeat. The Whigs were not discouraged by their re- pulse in that year, nor did they lose con- fidence in their Leader, whose war record gave- him popularity with the- masses of the people in all sections of the country. The campaign commenced in 1836 was not, permitted to die out. The Whigs kept up their organizations, did not lay down their arms, hut fortified their posi- tion and made every preparation for a renewal of the conflict in 18 10, never for h momenl Losing confidence in their lead- er or abating th.ir x*;i 1 in hi- support. The conflid on the part of the great leaders of the two parties was transferred from the stump to the halls of < ongress, and then, the battle was carried on with a zeal, eloquence and ability unequalled in any partisan struggle since the organ- ization of the. Government. The Whigs held their National <>>n- \ciition ;it Philadelphia on the 4th of December, 18:5!), nearly a year before the election. This showed how earnestly .'.ere enlisted ill the fight, and the confidence which inspired their action. They fell thai .i long campaign would resull to their advantage. They had no fear of discussion, no dread of investi- gal ion. Log Cabins and Hard Cider A Democratic correspondent of a Bal- timore paper, before the campaign of L84D had fairly opened, made the sneer ing remark that General Harrison's habits and attainments were well calcu- lated io secure him the highest measure of happiness in a log cabin with an abundant supply of hard eider. The Whig- caught this up and from, that nine forward Log cabins and hard eider played conspicuous parts in the campaign. Van Buren, the candidate of the Demo- crats, was held up as ;i dapper Little band box fop, using gold spoons and hav- ing not, the Leas! sympathy with the great working and producing ma the people. This was a strong card for the Whigs and they made the mosl of it, • ry convenl ion log cabins were haul- ed in processions and hard cider was free and plentiful as water. Harrison hail- ing from the Buckeye State, bu< bushes were used as the Whig emblem, and buckeyes were strung and worn as TO THE lMO.XEFR hiads by the ladies attending Whig gath- erings. The tide set strongly in favor of the Whigs, and even the correspondent of the Baltimore paper who spoke so sneer- inglv of the capacities and- social charac- ter of General Harrison, was carried in- to the current and swept into the Whig party. Opening of the Campaign in Ohio The campaign was opened in Ohio hy a monster ratification meeting in Colmn- bus on Washington's birthday, February 22. On the evening of the 21st all Whig residence- and business houses in the city were illuminated. The streets were thronged with people from all parts id' the Suite, and it was necessary to open nearly every house in the then city of six thousand inhabitants to accommo- date those wIki laid arrived from a dis- tance. The means of traveling were at that time very limited. Canals were closed, there were no railroads, stage coaches could carry but few persons, and the roads were so had that they could make hut slow progress, passengers often being compelled to get out and walk up hills or where the roads were particularly bad. But these things did not discour- age the zealous Whigs. They hitched up their own teams, hired teams, and sought conveyance to the capital of the state in every conceivable manner, determined to be on hand and participate in the inaug- uration of that eventful campaign. Not only this, hut log cabins of huge dimen- sions were mounted upon wheels and hauled long distances to the capital. But the most striking feature of that great gathering was the representation of Fort Meigs — being a miiniature copy of the Fort in every particular, hauled by six fine horses. It was 28 feet in length, the embankments were six inches high, surmounted by pickets ten inches high. I; was garrisoned by 40 men, contained seven block houses, twelve cannon, and was in every respect a complete and per- !'( ct representation of the Fort at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee river. There were three Blag-staffs on the Fort 30 feet high. On one was the inscrip- tion, "Fort Meigs, besieged May, 1813"; on another was Harrison's celebrated re- sponse to the demand of the British of- ficer for the surrender of the Fort, "Tell General Procter when he gets possession of the Fort he will gain more honor, in the estimation of his King and country, than he would acquire by a thousand capitulations," and on the other was the dying words of the brave Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship." This miniature fort was made at Perrys- hurg and hauled from that place to Co- lumbus. John C. Spink was Captain and went through with the Fort and the men. One of the guns on the Fort — a small brass piece — was cast at Toledo. The other guns were of iron and one of them was carried on the Commodore Perry the next season, and while being fired as the boat was coming up the lake on the fourth of July, exploded, severely wound- ing E. Graham, then the boat's carpenter, but subsequently treasurer of this coun- ty and Internal Revenue Assessor. On the morning of the 22d, the large numbers of people who had collected from a distance from Columbus during the previous day and night, formed proces- sions on the various roads leading into the capital, and. notwithstanding the rain and mud, the wildest enthusiasm prevailed, and by ten o'clock the streets of Columbus were literally filled with the drenched delegations. Numerous mili- tary companies and hands were there, and all marched through the streets in rain and mud, their enthusiasm seem- ingly heightened by the difficulties under which they were assembled. At that con- vention, after full consultation, the fol- lowing resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That it be recommended to the young men of the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, SCRAP-BOOK. Western New York. Pennsylvania and Virginia, to celebrate the next anniver- sary of the raising of tin* siege of Fort Meigs, in June, 1813, on the ground oc- cupied by that Fort." Preparing for Fort Meigs Gathering The tide had set in so strongly in favor of the Whigs that the Democrats were thrown into confusion. They lost, their temper, became demoralized, and those who did not enlist under the Whig ban- ner conducted a guerrilla warfare, mere- ly seeking to annoy the Whigs without securing any decided advantage. The greatest enthusiasm, amounting to al- most a degree of wild excitement, per- vaded the ranks of the Whigs, and from all parts of the country notes of prepara- tion to attend tin- Fort Meigs demon- stration were heard. Very naturally these indications of the coming gather- ing of the greatest partisan demonstra- tion ever witnessed in this country ex- cited and cheered the Whigs of Perrys- burg and Maumee, encouraging them to the greatest efforts in arranging for the complete success of the important enter- prise. The two villages, which were then about the only important places in the Maumee Valley, acted in concert, and no one was ever heard to complain of the manner in winch they performed their part of the work. The Log Cabin It was decided that a huge log cabin should be erected upon the Fort, to be used as a sort of headquarters by General Harrison for reception purposes. One log for this cabin was to be furnished by each township in Wood and Lucas counties. The first log to arrive was brought from the neighborhood of the present village of Swanton. It was a fine stick of timber, about fifty feet in length. Its arrival was the signal for a jollifica- tion. The cannon was brought and taken to the Fort, followed by three barrels of hard cider. The Whigs of Maumee and Perrysburg united in tins demonstration, and of course they had a jolly time, which lasted until in the evening, when many of the men and a host of hoys gave evidence of familiarity with these barrels of cider. The Fate of the First Log After the Whigs had got over their jubilee, the next day some of them went up to the Fort to take another look at that log which had met with such a warm reception. Judge their surprise when they discovered that the guerrilla Demo- crats had gone to the Fort in the night and stuck said log into the Fort well. The well was about 50 or 60 feet deep. It was perhaps 15 feet from the top of the well to the water, then there . was about fifteen feet of water and the bal- ance was mud. Not only this, but the said guerrillas had bored a bole in the end of the log which projected out of the well about five feet, then they had got a hickory bush, shaved the end to lit the hole in the log and then planted said bush in the log. The bush was removed but the log could not be lifted out of the well, and it remains there to this day and is seen by all who visit the Fort. It fitly illustrates the style of warfare adopted by tin1 Democrats in 1840. Who Placed the Log in the Well Until very recently only those engaged in the act knew who placed that log in the well. Time has served to cool the Whig blood which was made to boil on account of that outrage, and recently one of the actors in that drama gave us the history of bow it was done and the names of those who did it. The parties who did it were ('has. P. Wilson, brother of the late Hon. Eber Wilson; Henry Fw- ing, Samuel Bucher, who lived in a cabin near the Fort ; S. D. Westcott, a well known citizen of Perrysburg, and 72 THE PIONEER John Westcott, of Vanlue, Hancock coun- ty. Just how so few men could plant so large a log in a well the reader will be curious to know. A man by the name of Had way lived on a farm about half a mile above the Fort. He had a pair of breach} oxen and was in the habit of turning them upon the commons in their yoke. These cattle were at the Fort and the guerrillas drafted them into the ser- vice. Bucher got a log chain, the oxen were hitched to the log and it was drawn into position, the butt at the well and the other end resting upon the embank- ment. Thus situated the men managed to raise the small end and slide the log into the well. The Whigs were not discouraged by this little episode, but the logs kept com- ing in until every township had its re- presentative for the cabin. An eye wit- ness informs us that he never saw so fine a collection of logs. They ranged from 40 to 60 feet in length, were straight as an arrow and smooth as a ramrod. The Whigs were proud of their logs and contemplated the beautiful cabin to be made of them with great satisfac- tion. Another Guerrilla Raid It is singular that the fate of the first log did not operate to warn the Whigs against further raids from the Democrat- ic guerrillas, but they evidently thought the success of the first venture would satisfy their enemies. In this they were deceived, for one dark night some rascals, armed with cross-cut saws, entered the Fort and cut those beautiful logs into old fashioned back logs. To this day it is not known who handled those saws. Like the man who locked his stable door after the horse was stolen, the Whigs now built a bark guard house and hired a man, armed with a shot-gun, to keep watch. Other logs were procured and a huge double cabin was erected, Geo. W. Newton, of Perrysburg, acting in the capacity of master builder, and we be- lieve, John C. Spink, Julius Blinn, Judge Hollister, J. W. Smith and other Whigs of Perrysburg were the leading spirits in this preparatory work for the great con- vention. The Demonstration The Fort Meigs demonstration was worthy of the campaign of 1840. In fact, everything considered, it was the most remarkable political gathering ever witnessed in this country. It must be re- membered that facilities for travel were very limited at that time, and that Fort Meigs was then a point on the frontier. Notwithstanding these facts, the crowd assembled was estimated at from 40,000 to 60,000 persons. It is safe to say that there were 50,030 people at the Fort on the 11th day of June, 1840. They came from all parts of the country, in all man- ner of conveyances. Capt. Wilkinson, with his Commodore Perry, escorted six- teen steamboats up the river, all loaded to their utmost capacity. Men are said to have sold their last cow to get the means to take them to that convention. Military companies from various cities were present, and a large number of 1 tands furnished music. The processions on the roads leading to Perrysburg were simply immense, while thousands upon thousands were streaming in for two or three days before the grand demonstra- tion, from all parts of the country. A mock siege occurred on the night of the tenth, and cannonading by the several batteries in attendance is described as having been sublimely grand. Every house and out-house in Perrysburg and Maumee was crowded with weary men who had rode in buggies and wagons hundreds of miles. Thousands slept up- on the ground in the woods adjoining the Fort. The wells in the upper portion of Perrysburg were soon pumped dry in re- lieving the thirst of the multitude. Gen- eral Harrison was present and while in SCRAP-BOOK. 73 Perrysburg was the guest of Judge Hol- lister, who then owned and occupied the residence recently owned by H. E. Peck. In the evening, in response to the calls of a great crowd of people, he appeared upon the grounds in front of the resi- dence and briefly addressed the multitude. The General, Tom Bwing and a large number of other distinguished Whigs were present and addressed the people at the Fort. General Harrison spent a portion of his time in Maumee, the guest of .Judge Forsythe. Thus was inaugurated and successfully concluded the greatest political demon- stration, all things considered, ever wit- nessed on this continent. THE WINTER OF 1842-43 Referred To by Old Settlers as a Record Breaker Wholly Unsurpassed THE late Mr. C. W. Evers some years since wrote up the following ac- count of the severe winter of 1842-43, in Wood County : J. E. Tracy of Toledo, who was an early pioneer of Bowling Green, tells some of the incidents of the memorable hard winter of 1842-3 which is referred to by all the old people as a record break- er unsurpassed since white men planted their cabins in this part of the country. The autumn of 1842 had been a mild and delightful one. The mazy Indian summer had hung over the landscape like a protecting curtain from the chill blasts of boreas. On the 25th day of Novem- ber in the after part of the day, came a change, sudden and severe. First dark, dense clouds overcast the sky; towards night rain fell. This soon changed to sleet, driven by a strong wind and so cold that men caught out with teams on the road had to leave their wagons and walk to keep from freezing. This, later turned to snow which covered the ground heavily in the morning. That snow, increased in depth from time to time, lav until some time in April, 1843. The ice in the Maumee at Waterville. was frozen solid down to the rocks on the day of spring election in April that year. The weather at times, in fact much of the time, was extremely cold, though there were no thermometers here then by which to gauge the temperature, as now. The mild autumn had lulled the scatter- ing settlers into neglect and their scanty supplies of vegetables, fruit and corn fod- der had been frozen solid in the unherald- ed storm, no more to be released till the following May. By March the scanty supply of prairie hay began to fail. The poor cattle starved, shivered and froze. Their pitiful bellowing and moans were harrowing to hear. The owners would drive them into the forest where elm and basswood trees were felled and the starv- ing brutes ate the buds and tender twigs. Other owners later, when the ground thawed, dug prairie dock (root of the rosin weed) and fed it to their horses and cattle. Despite all the efforts hun- dreds of cattle perished and those that survived were mere skeletons. Hogs could get no acorns from under the icy crust and there was no corn to feed them. They crawled into bunches where they were found in the spring frozen solid as rocks. Poultry and small animals, wild and domestic, perished. Squirrels, coon and birds were found frozen in hollow trees and logs, even the muskrat in his icy home. That was fil years ago, but none who lived at that time will ever forget the harrowing vicissitudes of that winter 74 THE PIONEBB and the destitution and sickness of the following spring and summer. The present winter though unusually Bevere, would not, though equally as cold as that of 42-3 bear upon us of today as il did upon those scantily prepared pio- neers of that time. We have warm hous- es, clothing and stores of supplies both for man and beast. There can be no comparison. We can never know nor even imagine the terrors of that gloomy period, to those who lived here and shared its hardships. The unprecedented conditions that exist now in the Mauniee river are only a sample of what dangerous surprises nature's working forces may bring when a certain combination of circumstances exist. Then it is that man's best efforts are set at naught. He is as puny as the fretful ant. His bridge spans are not high enough. His dykes and dams are not strong enough. His granite and steel walls are not proof against the de- vouring breath of flame and heat. Man's efforts only help to make the destruction greater. The Maumeo is hedged and ob- structed with piers, docks and earth fill- ings. The raging torrents armed with blocks of floating ice only mock at these artificial contrivances of man and sweep them away as if hut tinsel or cobwebs. How like the ant hill or the cobweb of the spider are the works of man, in that each alike are only subject to power of dest ruction. Had not man planted his cabin here nor disturbed the Mauniee we wrould not be comparing the present winter with that of 42-43 in points of severity and dest ructiveness. So long as man asserts himself along side of and against nature's modes, which will be as long as he exists, so long must he cope with bard winters, hot summers, drouth, floods and other pleasant and un- pleasant manifestations of nature's ca- prices and whims. SAGE CHILD TRAGEDY Most Horrible Child Murder by a Father Whose Mind Was Wrecked by Religious Fervor VALENTINE SAGE married a full- blooded Indian girl, adopted by and raised in the family of Rev. Isaac Van Tassel, one of the early missionaries to the Indians, on the Maumee. Some- time in 1852-3 their oldest boy named George, aged about thirteen years, took sick and died, which threw him into a despondent state of mind, and he gradu- ally turned his thoughts to religious mat- ters, and would shout, sing and pray alternately in the wildest manner. Some six months afterward Sage at- tended a religious revival held "by Rev. P. ((. Baldwin, at the old Plain Church, and became so wrought up by religious excitement that he would shout and pray at the top of his voice all the way home from (he church at night. One stormy, snowy morning in March, during the progress of the meeting he arose quite early and made a lire in the stove, singing loudly all the time. Pres- ently he went to the bed where his wife and child lay and took the child, as his wife who was awake supposed, to the stove to keep it warm while she dressed herself, but she saw him hurry out of doors. She sprang up and ran to the door just, in time to see the head of her darling child dashed against a log on the wood pile. She gave an agonizing scream, when he seized the ax and com- pelled her to go to bed, after which he SCRAP-BOOK. 75 broughl tlif dead child to her. He sung and shouted and Beemed to be entirely happy, while hie wife expected every moment that either her own or some of the other children's lives would be next sacrificed. He forbid any of them leav- ing the house, holding the ax all the time. Finally the oldest girl escaped from the chamber window and ran to a neigh- bor's, Mr. John Whitehead, about a half a mile distant. Whitehead hurried down hut was threatened his life if he came even in the yard. He saw that he was powerless to relieve the prisoners in the house and that his presence only increas- ed the rage of the madman every mo- ment and rendered the fact of Sage's family more perilous. He hurried away for help and returned shortly after, with, we believe, Henry Huff, S. W. St. John and John Kvers, all active anil determin- ed men. They came up unobserved by Sage. Two of them made an attempt to hold a parley with him, hut he stood In the door brandishing his ax threaten- ing any with death who should attempt lo approach. While two of the men at- tracted his attention from the front, Kvers climbed in at the chamber window and down the Ladder, ami unnoticed by Sage, stole up behind him and clasped him tightly around the waist, under the arms. Even with this advantage it was hard to avoid the blows of his ax. His strength seemed superhuman. Some one finally seized him by the throat, and once out of wind they succeeded in tying him and he was sent to the jail at Perrysburg, where ne afterward died a raving mad- man.—C. W. E. HOLLISTER'S PRAIRIE A Wild Region, Picturesque and Attractive for the Hunter of Wild Game ABOUT eight miles southeast of Gil- ead lay that stretch of low grassy prairie or swamp, as it was most of the year: only in the very driest of seasons, in mid-summer did it become terra firma, its tall grass, growing from ons. Such a scene as the herds on the broad acre,- of pasturage, viewed from the over- looking ridges, at its best ana most pic- turesque, might well have tempted the coolest brain to visionary dreams of Ar- cadian bliss, such dreams as caused the educated and wealthy German, Carl Nibelung to sink his fortune in the swampy pasture at the northeast side of the prairie, in later years. — Sentinel, I SSI. Wood county was organized April 1, 1820, with \'.'> other counties, and Mau- mee was the county seat until 1823. 76 THE PIONEER MILTON TOWNSHIP The Struggles of the First Settlers — Their Privations At Work on the Hand Mill IN the Sentinel of April 21, 1881, a pioneer says: About the year 1834-35, began the first white settlement, in what is now known as Milton township, in Wood county, Ohio. Prior to this time it was a howl- ing wilderness; the foot of a white man had scarcely trod on its territory. The wild Indian or red man of the forest, the bear, the wolf, the panther and wild cat, held full sway, unmolested by the ap- proach of civilization. About this time there began to be a movement made in some of the eastern counties of Ohio, to go west. The Maumee Valley had its attractions, and the traveler in search of a home had his attention drawn to Wood county by its rich and inexhaustable soil. Landing at Perrysburg, they would wend their way up the Maumee, and striking the mouth of Beaver Creek, a mile be- low Grand Rapids (then Gilead), they would ascend the creek to explore the rich country before them. The earlier set- tlers began to locate along the creek in Henry county and soon they began to spread out over more territory. To tell the story of pioneer life in the wilds of Milton and adjoining townships it may seem strange to some why I should connect Henry county and Liberty town- ship and associate the names of those at such remote distances. Id those days we understood and ap- preciated that word neighbor. It was not used then in that narrow, contracted sense in which it is used now, but it was born of that higher and prouder philan- thropy, as taught in Bible lessons, where a man fell among robbers^ so we in the earlier days of our pioneer life in the wilds of Milton and adjoining townships were all neighbors, for miles and miles, and when we met, there was a happy greeting, a cordial and hearty shaking of hands, as though it really meant some- thing. We had no roads either, we just went zig-zag through me woods, around trees, over and around fallen timber, through the water, fighting the mosquitoes, to a neighbor's with a sack of corn on our backs to grind it on a hand mill, to get corn meal to make johnny cake for the family (it was johnny cake, coon and possum fat), and glad to get that. We had no water mills nearer than Perrys- burg, and not much to get ground when we got there. And it took us from four to five days to go and come; the only conveyance was by ox teams and a cart. Old Billy Hill (as he was familiarly known) had a hand mill, and it was kept going from morning until midnight, people coming from miles and miles around. Dozens of men and women have been there at one time waiting their turn to get their opportunity to turn the mill, and some times, when so thronged, some would leave their corn and go home to their hungry families, and come again to take their places at the mill. Of course this mill was a rude structure; four upright posts framed together and the stones set in them, and the propelling power was applied by an upright shaft, with an iron spout placed in a thimble in the upper burr, and the top held by passing through a hole in a board, and then two men taking hold of this up- right shaft and turning the burr. It was a slow process, but it was the only alternative we had. This was afterward changed, so as to make it more conven- ient; it was arranged, so four men could take hold of cranks like a grind stone and made to grind much faster. Then we all thought that we had found a para- dise. >c RAP-BOOK. r? GOING TO MILL How Wood County Pioneers Took Their Grist to Mills on the River Raisin APIOXEEK writes to the Sentinel in 1881, the following graphic de- scription of "going to mill": The nearest grist mills for the settlers along the Maumee were located at the month of the river Raisin in Michigan, where the city of Monroe now is, and at Cold Creek in what was then Huron county — now Erie county, Ohio, near where the village of Castalia now is. The distance in either case being not far from seventy miles, and with the easy going ox teams and the horrible roads, going to mill was a vast undertaking, the journey often taking ten days or two weeks to perform even if the hungry pio- neer did not have to camp out, or hunt work in the neighborhood of the mill, and wait for sufficient water to accumu- late in the crazy old dams, to enable the miller to turn out their grist. Alexander Brown, once worked, log- ging, at Cold Creek, and then had to turn in and help grind his own grist on Sunday, and even then did not finish be- fore the water gave out, and he was forced to leave a portion of his grist at the mill, the miller promising to grind it and send it to Perrysburg by the first chance. Mr. Brown got his grist in a little over two months all right. When an expedition was fitted out to go to mill either to the mouth of Raisin river or to Cold Creek, it usually be- came a neighborhood affair, and was con- sidered a bigger undertaking than a trans-continental journey would now. A "team," consisting of two or three yokes of oxen, would be rigged to a wagon, and the grists of the whole neighborhood be loaded on, with feed for the cattle and a sack of potatoes, coffee pot and frying pan, and other needed camp equipage, and amidst much excitement and great shoutings of "good byes," the expedition would gaily flounder away on their trip of a week or two to mill. For the meat supply of such expeditions, the settlers depended upon the chance of game sup- ply along the route, and usually some noted hunter accompanied the caravan as chief forager, whose unerring rifle would easily, every day, from the woods, supply the meager larder with juicy veni- son steaks, or a young bear roast. Sometimes, when the country was flooded, and the rude trails through the forests back to the older settlements were impassable even to a man on horseback, the bread material of our hardy pioneers was prepared as was that of the ancient Hebrews, every family doing its own grinding, in their handmills, or as their Indian neighbors did theirs, in a sort of rude mortar attached to a spring pole, always remembering that among the In- dians the ladies manipulated the hominy mill. Uncle John Gingery has in his pos- session today, a coffee mill that he pur- chased in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1826. The old mill is still hale and heartv, and has good teeth yet for a pioneer of 57 years old. Bushels of buckwheat and corn have met the crushing influence of that old mill, and bolted through a fine meal sieve have furnished "Snap Jack" material that fried in "bar" fat, went far toward nourishing the sinewy arm of the old pioneers when by reason of the impassable condition of roads or the in- clement weather, they were prevented from going to mill. Tt is a matter of fact that in the Mau- mee Valley a greater number of battles have been fought, and with greater re- sults than in any similar extent of ter- ritorv in the Union. THE PIONEER ATTACKED BY WOLVES Mahlon Meeker's Struggle at Night With a Pack of These Animals OX E night as Mr. Meeker was going home followed by one of his dogs he suddenly heard the howl of a wolf near the trail he was following. This was instantly answered by another wolf and presently a wolf appeared in front of him. The dog slunk close to him. He had no means of defense and so knew it was just as safe to go ahead as to turn back. So he walked boldly up to the one in the trail until almost within reach of it when it sprang to one side and joined with two others in the rear, when they all broke out in a deafening, startling chorus of howls. After going a mile or so he came to where a tree had been blown down and ran into the top to get a stick. While here, four more wolves joined in the chase, and on taking the trail again they became so fierce and hold and approached so close that several times be succeeded in striking one with his cluh, after which they would howl and snap their teeth in disappointed rage, but continue to follow him until be arrived on the ridge at the cabin of Howard, who had a great fire in his fire place, the light of which shone through the unchinked cracks and which with two savage dogs finally scared the wolves off. Meeker thinks if he had tripped his foot and fallen they would have all attacked him at once. They were of the large brown species and seemed maddened with hunger. — C. IV. E. WILD HOGS Some Startling Experiences With Them by Mr. Meeker Tl I K earliest recollections we have from the first settlers all speak of the great numbers of wild bogs that frequent- ed the woods in the Black Swamp. They were more numerous at times than the deer and many years later they were cap- tured in the dense woods north of what is called the "Devil's Hole." Some of the early settlers claimed that they were not, nor could not be the pro- geny of the domestic bog, being entirely wild and untamable and fierce of dis- position. But we incline to the belief that they were originally strays, or cast offs from the quartermaster's department of Bull's or Harrison's army. Perhaps Mad Anthony Wayne and his legion in 1794, after the victory, felt so well that they turned all their hogs loose, if any they had, to devour the Indian corn- fields growing along the Maumee. At all events it is known that large droves of hogs were brought in during the war of 1812, and it is not at all unreason- able to suppose this the origin of the \ast herds of wild bogs which roamed the woods many years ago. We refer to this matter in this place in connection with a couple of incidents related by Mr. Meeker. Wild Hogs Tree a Wolf While in, search of some horses one day in company with one of the Deckers, they beard a loud commotion some dis- tance away among the wild hogs. It grew louder and louder until their cu- riosity led them to cautiously approach the place or as near as they dared, when they spied a wolf on a high fallen log barely out of reach of the infuriated ani- mals, which seemed to have gathered there by hundreds — at least the ground SCRAP-BOOK. 79 was covered with them. But the wolf may have seen the men, for be sprang off his perch and was instantly torn to pieces and devoured. The hunters were only able, after the hogs Left, to find a small string of his hide. Meeker Treed by Wild Hogs At another time Mr. Meeker was re- turning home when he heard the cries <>f a young pig, which seemed to have been deserted by the rest of the herd and was too weak to gel alone". Mr. Meeker took it up thinking to take it home with him. when it set up such a Bqueeling as soon brought the whole drove upon him. He heard them com- ing just in time to drop the pig and hastily climh a small tree as the excited animals gathered beneath him foaming and gnashing their teeth, while several l'< ro: lous old hoars fought with each oth- er for the privilege of gouging the bark off the tree with their tusks. After much noisy demonstrations and watching the prisoner for a time they began to drop off and finally the siege was entirely raised by the departure of the last hog — a surly old boar, a very patriarch whose Large tusks and fierce mien might have well challenged comparison with any dwellers of bis kind in the famous Black Swamp.— G. W. E. THE MAUMEE COUNTRY Once Regarded as One of the Most Dreary, Desolate and Uninviting Regions of Earth THE late Dr. Geo. B. Spencer wrote to the Sentinel early in 1884, as follows : Before the year 1820, Wood county was a part of an indefinite, undivided, un- explored wilderness, known as "North- west Ohio," with its county seat at Belle- font aine, and but few settlements in all the -Black Swamp" of the "Miami of the Lakes." Wavneslield township of Logan county, included within its limits, all of the present counties of Wood and Hancock, and in that year. 1820, the total tax for all purposes collected in the said township was $139.45. In 1823, on the 28th of May. the township of Waynes- field was divided by the organization of Perrysburg township, which included, all of the present county of Wood. •■The Maumee Country", was by this time celebrated from one end of the United States to the other, as the most forsaken, desolate and ague-smitten wil- derness of tangled forests and inhospit- able swamps, only excelled in dreariness and desolation, perhaps, by the great "Dismal Swam])** of Virginia, or the im- penetrated everglades of Florida. Hull*.- troops had cut and floundered a passage through this country on their way to the disgraceful surrender at De- troit, in LSI 2. Mad Anthony Wayne's victorious army, had 18 years before this, in 17!H, followed down along the swampy "Miamd of the Lakes" from Fort Defi- ance to Fori Miami, to punish the re- fiactory Indians, and as the soldiers of Warn ■. Hull and Harrison dispersed to their homes back in the old colonies, they carried with them their soldier sto- ries of the horrible swamps of the "Miami of the Lakes." as the Maumee river was then called. See how names are changed, and new wonL made. The river was by its earl- iest French settlers, called the Miami, pronounced by the French "Me-ah-me," and by the corrupted influence of the 80 THE PIONEEK Indians' and backwoodsmen's attemptsat pronunciation, it became first "Me-aw- me" and then "Mau-mee" until now as we pronounce the "Mi-ani-i" of southern Ohio and the "Maumee" of northern Ohio you wouldn't suspect any blood relation. And as "Maumee'' it became a famed locality and went heralded in song and wierd story as the place where "Potatoes they grow small on Mau-mee, on Mau-mee." But in spite of its drawbacks, and un- pleasant natural features, and the unfa- vorable reports circulated far and wide about the country, the speculating spirit of some of Wayne's soldiers and those of the war of 1812, was attracted to the Maumee Valley by its wonderful game supply, and the hopes of a remunerative traffic in furs and peltries with the In- dians, and traders; posts were establish- ed at several places in the valley im- mediately after the peace following the war of 1812. Settlements started first near the shore of the lake, then gradually spreading up the rivers and tributaries. In 1821, enough settlers were located about Fort Meigs, at the foot of the rapids in the river, to demand a better means of com- munication with their county seat, Bellefoaitainej than was presented by Hull's old trace, in its serpentine wand- erings southward through this county; so what is called yet the Wapakoneta road, was petitioned for, granted, sur- veyed, and work begun on it in 1821. The road led from Fort Meigs along up the river on the south side, to near the mouth of Beaver Creek, then followed nearly the course, of Beaver Creek, and so en south of Wapakoneta. Then the trade of the Indians at the head of the rapids, attracted settlers along up the river. At that time there were no other white settlers between that point and Fort Defiance, where the town of Defi- ance now is. There was quite a good sized Indian village on the Maumee and scattering outlying settlements along up Beaver Creek, and on the sand ridges south from the river, the Indians dwelling in peace and harmony with their white neighbors. WESTON TOWNSHIP Gradual Accession of Settlers — Organization and the First Election IN his reminiscences, the late Dr. G. B. Spencer wrote to the Sentinel in 1884, as follows: Year after year during the Twenties, white settlers came, and by occasional accessions of other families, the little settlement at the mouth of Bear Creek and at the head of the rapids of the Maumee, grew, until in the spring of 1830, they demanded a township organ- ization for themselves. The reader will please remember that up to this time all of what is now Wood county, was in- cluded in one big township called Perrys- burg, which township has been divided and sub-divided since that time. So in the spring of 1830, the settlers at the head of the rapids and mouth of Beaver Creek and at Bear Rapids or Otsego, petitioned for a new township to be called "Ottawa," and the township was duly created by the county commis- sioners, but before the time came to elect township officers in the spring of 1831, the name was changed from Ottawa to AVeston. The township as first organized includ- ed all of what is now Weston, Milton, Jackson and the west part of Washing- ton townships, or a strip of land six SCRAP-BOOK. 81 miles wide, and extending back from the river to what is now the southern limit of Wood county. First Election The first election ever held in Weston township was on the 1th day of April, 1831, when all of the voters met at the house of Edward Howard, and proceed- ed to elect themselves, for at that first election there were barely enough voters to intelligently fill the offices. The first officers were as follows : Trustees, Ed- ward Howard, Wm. Pratt and Emanuel Arnold; treasurer, R. M. Howard; clerk, R. A. Howard; poor overseers, M. P. Morgan and Jas. Donaldson; constables, Wm. North and Wm. Wonderly; fence viewers, Wm. Lough ry and Joseph North; Justices of the peace, Alexander Brown and Emanuel Arnold, who did not receive their commissions from the governor until in August of that year. James Donaldson was also elected road supervisor, and the only road that came under his supervision was the road lead- ing along down the river bank from the settlement to Fort Meigs, which was a poor excuse for a road at that time, being only partially chopped out and not worked at all. For the care of this, the only road in the township, except the Indian trails, Mr. Donaldson, received the princely salary of seventy-five cents. The only officer who received any sal- ary during the first year was the treasur- er, R. M. Howard, who drew, all at one time, seventy-five cents. So for $1.50 \\ eston township was as peacefully gov- erned as she has ever been since that date, and I find no record of any specula- tion or defalcation. The Fence Viewers' office in 1831 was almost a sinecure, unless they went to inspect the rude brush fences that surrounded the first clearings. But the settlements were looking up, new people coming in every year, and during the next five years, more than 50 families came into Weston township. Start of Village We may say then that the village of Weston was not started until in 1854 when the Taylor saw mill was put in operation. Thirty years ago the site of our town was all farm land and used as such. In 1854 Jonathan Crom built his shanty, started a saloon and kept a few groceries. Benjamin West came in 1854, and wishing to get an eligible site for his blacksmith shop, went directly across the street from Crom's saloon, and located his forge just about where Indle- kofer's bar stands in his saloon today. His shop was a mere shanty. In 1855 Levi Taylor built the front half of the building now owned by Ames, and in the fall of that year, put in the first stock of dry goods and groceries that the village ever saw. Van Tassel Killed Many of our older citizens frequently speak of the celebrated missionary, Isaac Van Tassel, one of the pioneer preachers who frequently visited Weston and talk- ed to the few citizens in the little old school house. He was found dead on the Galeae! road, about 20 rods west of where Allen Bortell now lives. He was on his way to his home in Plain town- ship, from Gilead. It is not known whether his horse threw him off, or whether he died suddenly of heart dis- ease. It occurred March 2, 1849. In 1697 French forts were built at Fort Wayne and at the foot of the Rapids. The entire Northwestern territory for some years had but three county organ- izations. These were Washington, Ham- ilton and Wayne, the latter embracing Wood countv. 82 THE P10NEEU ATTACKED BY SAVAGES Settlers in Flight Their Homes Burned The Account of Navarre Manor Proves a Lame Guide THE late Hezekiah L. Hosmer said, on the authority of Peter Navarre and others, that Pierre Minard, known as Peter Manor, received the news of war from a Delaware named Sae-a-manc, who in passing' through the settlement said: "I shall go to Owl Creek. I shall kill some of the Long Knives before I come back, and will show you some of their scalps. In ten days after I get back all the hostile tribes will hold a council at Maiden; very soon after that, we shall come to this place and kill all the Yan- kees. You, Manor, are a good French- man, and must not tell them what I say." Sac-a-manc returned, after an absence of six days, and showed Manor three scalps, which he said were those of a family he had murdered on Owl Creek, lie repeated to Manor in confidence that il was the intention of the Indians to c< uiie to the valley in force sufficient to massacre the American settlers. This intelligence Manor communicated to .Major Spafford, accompanied with advice to leave the valley immediately. The major laughed, and dismissed the subject with some remark expressive of incredu- lity, and Manor left him, promising that should he learn of any further cause of alarm he would let him know. Aliouj a month after this conversation, a man by the name of Miller (some ac- counts say Gordon), who had lived many years with the Ottawas, and who was well known to Major Spafford, entered his house in breathless haste, and told him that at no greater distance than Mon- clova there was a band of fifty Pottawa- tomdes, on the march, from their country mi the St. Joseph River, to join the hos- tile Indians at Maiden, and take part in the council spoken of by Sac-a-manc. They had plundered and set fire to the buildings at Monclova, and would soon be at the foot of the Rapids. But little time was left to escape. The major with his family and the few settlers that had remained in the valley, hastened immediately to the river, where they dislodged and launched a large barge, in which some officers had de- scended the river from Fort Wayne the year before. Raising a sail made of a bed blanket, they were enabled, by dint of hard rowing and a favorable breeze, to round the point and get under cover of old Fort Miami just as the Indians made their appearance on the bank, where Maumee City is built, and before the boat passed Eagle Point they saw the flames ascending from the homes they had just deserted. This little band of fugitives, favored with fair winds, made a safe passage in their crazy craft to the Quaker settlement at Milan, where they remained until after the war. Ma- nor says, they were panic-stricken, and left their horses, cattle, and most of their household goods. Their property was taken by the Indians, who completed their work by burning every dwelling, belong- ing to an American, in that part of the valley. This accomplished, they pursued their course to Maiden, to attend the In- dian council spoken of by Sac-a-manc. Not long after Hull's surrender, the French settlers remaining at the foot of the rapids, received a call from a party of sixty Delawares, who arrived there in advance of the main body of the British army, on their march to Fort Wayne. Manor says that he. with some of his neighbors, was standing in front of Beau- grand's store, at Maumee, when the In- dians came out of the woods — that they drew up in line, and each put his gun to his shoulder and aimed, as if to fire at the little group of settlers. Beaugrand came out and waved a white handker- SCRAP-BOOK. i hief. They dropped their muskets, and approached the store an a run, and re- mained a few minutes. An hour after their departure, about LOO British boI- (i u-rs. and as many Pottawatomies and Wyandots, came up. Their first inquiry was for guides. Manor, from prudential motives was seized with sudden and se- vere lameness; but it would not do. The officer in command pressed him into ser- vice as a guide, and lame as lie seemed. he was compelled to conduct this com- pany, to the head of the rapids. Here Ins lameness so increased, that his perse- cutors dismissed him, and he set out on Ids return home. At the foot of Presque Isle Hill, he met Colonel Elliott, the of- lieer in command of the detachment, and the remainder of the troops and Indians composing it. Elliott examined him closely, and on learning that he had been employed as a guide, permitted him to go on his way, Mr. C. W. Evers makes the following criticism in regard to the incidents above an von : The above differs from other accounts as to the time the settler.- left the Rapids. In this. Mr. Hosmer quotes Manor incorrectly, n<> doubt. Hull had news of the declaration of war July 2nd. lie surrendered his army August 16th. from Mr. Hosmer's statement, we would h; led to believe that the settlers fled on hearing war had been declared. Mrs. Green and Clark both say the flight was after the surrender of Hull. Their ver- sion is doubtless the correct one. In the history of Erie county, incidental men- tion is made of Major Spafford being at the mouth of Huron river, with his fam- ily, in a boat, about September 1st. The reasonable inference is that he had hut recently sailed from the Maumee, that is, iii the latter part of August, after the surrender. The probabilities are that in the impending danger, after Hull's sur- render, the settlers foresaw that they were no longer safe for even a single day : that in the confusion and anxiety of the hour each acted as his hopes or fears impelled him. BOWLING GREEN Something About Its Early History The First Log Cabin How the Town Re- ceived Its Name Interesting Inci- dents of the Past PROBABLY there has been no more accurate and succinct account of the early history of Bowling Green, than the following, penned by the late C, W. Evers, whose studious efforts in gathering every incident connected with the pioneer his- tory of Wood county, rendered him a reliable authority in all that pertains to that early period: Hull's March The first time white men came to dis- turb the forest solitudes where Bowling Green now stands, was in June, 1812, when Hull's army passed here, marching from Dayton to Detroit. That column of troops, preceded by guides, scouts and axmen, followed in turn by the cavalry battalion, with its gaudy pennons, escorting the command- ing genera] with his gaily uniformed staff retinue, then the infantry, field hands, artillery and trains formed a pageant which even to-day would attract all Bowling Green to the east side of town, about where the T. & 0. C. rail- vav track lies. That is about on the line the troops held, until near Ridge street, when they turned a little to the west, coming out on the Maumee nearly opposite Waterville. That was the first v/agon trail through the interior of ..Wood S-i THE PIONEER county, and the only one for the two suc- ceeding decades. The land was then owned by the Indians. After the war, in 1817, at a treaty at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, the United States bought the land, at a price slightly less than four cents an acre, and in 1819 sent surveyors here, which was the second appearance of white men on official business. In 1821 the final surveys were completed and the plats made, when the lands were ready fcr market. The Black Swamp Unfortunately the Black Swamp coun- try, after the war of 1812, had a worse reputation, if possible, than ever; the soldiers and others who had been here, told horrible stories about it. Few buy- ers of land came — none to the interior of the county. Those who stopped inva- riably located on or near the river; so that, aside from roving parties of In- dian hunters and occasional white fur- traders, or the weekly trips of the old Bellefontaine mail carrier, the interior of the county was practically unknown and shunned by settlers for more than a de- cade after its survey. Prior to the year 1828, Collister Haskins, at Portage, was the only settler between Findlay and the Maumee settlement. The First Cabin Some few land entries were made in Plain and Center in 1831, but the pio- neer entry in the present corporation of Bowling Green, was made October 29, 1832, by Elisha Martindale; the tract, 40 acres in the northwest part of town, lying on both sides of Haskins road or street, is known as the Clinton Fay place. Martindale later bought 120 acres more; he built his cabin where the present Fay house stands, near the great willow tree just west of the road, the following spring, 1833. Careful inquiry has failed to discover evidence of any cabin here prior to that date; Lee Moore, Henry Walker, Jacob Stoufter and others came and built in the summer and fall of '33. Alfred Thurstin began his cabin in No- vember, 1833, as did Joseph Hollington si., but so far as known the Martindale cabin was the first, and stood on the first land entry in what is now Bowling Green. (Without going into all the particu- lars of the land entries given at that early day and noted by Mr. Evers, we will simply give the names of a few of those who entered land. Among them were Joseph Hollington, Benjamin Reed, J. M. and Samuel Lamb, Stephen Ward, Thomas Tracy, Henry Walker, Andrew Race, Jonathan Fay, Robert Barr, Alfred Thurstin, Lee Moore, David Hickson and others.) A Few Came to Stay These few notes from the land entry books, though not including all entries embraced in the present corporation of Bowling Green, neither the names of all purchasers, are yet sufficient to afford the reader some idea of the pioneer real estate men of the town and when they first came. Some, perhaps only one or two, of all those named bought merely for speculation. Most came in quest of homes. Some tried life here, got tired of it and left. Of those faithful ones who remained to buffet with adversity and fight the battle th?,t was eventually to make a town here, of which they never even dreamed perhaps, most, alas, have passed from this stage of action; their toils and trials have ceased. They did their part bravely and well; their work of subduing the wilderness, begun more than half a century ago, and its results, are before us to-day. Their descendants and successors surely have just cause to remember them with respect and pride. If the story of their humble start in the race and their faithful stewardship to the end, shall inspire us with the ambi- tion and will to do our part as well, then SCRAP-BOOK. 85 this story will not have been told in vain. Struck by the Panic A glance at the old land entry books shows the rapid influx of settlers from 188:1 to 1836 or 183<. That was an era of speculation. Everyone had a mania to buy land, but. the money panic and business crash of 183? brought it to a sudden end. That was a paralytic stroke from which the western country did not entirely recover until the Cali- fornia gold discovery, more than a decade later. Wood county was especially pros- trated. There was nothing here that the people could sell, not even their homes; but there was most everything in the May of necessities even, to buy. There was in those gloomy years, little to in- spire hope; much to thwart and discour- age effort. The Mail Carrier By the middle of the year 1834 the ridges and higher spots within a radius of three miles of this place were mostly pa tented from the government, and in many instances the owner had built and occupied his cabin on his new purchase. This brought the population largely to the west and north, where the most ridges lay. The mail carrier between Perrys- burg and Bellefontaine passed on the old army trail once each week, at first every two weeks, and this group of set- tlers petitioned for a postoffice in their midst; they were distrustful, however, that Cbllister Haskins, of Portage, might not approve of the move and went about it a little cautiously. The story of this enterprise incidentally reveals How Bowling Green Got Its Name The civil history of a town is but the biography of its founders and their suc- cessors, in which every incident, some- times the most trivial, has an interest to the dwellers therein. \ot. only the name of a town, but what or who suggested that name, often becomes of interest. Since Bowling Green has become the thriving seat of justice of one of the most prosperous counties in Ohio, inquiry is- often made how it happened that it was so named. For the first time, in print, the story is here told, with the incidents that led to the naming, as told to the writer by two of the pioneers who had a part in it at the time, and several others personally known to all the cir- cumstances. Bowling Green was chris- tened after, or for the capital town of Warren county, Kentucky, by Joseph Gordon, a veteran mail carrier of the pioneer days here. Of one who perform- ed so important a part for us in our in- fantile state, we naturally ask, Who was he? in his paper, the Findlay Courier, January 1847, William Mungen wrote editorially of Gordon as follows: Who Gordon Was "Joseph Gordon was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th day of January, 1784. In the year 1801, when but 17 years old, he commenced carrying the mail, on horseback, from Kussellville, Kentucky, via Bowling Green, to Glasgow, a distance of 85 miles, once in two weeks, for which he received $12 per month. In 1802 he took a con- tract to carry the mail from Shelbyville, Kentucky, to Nashville, Tennessee. In consequence of the route being changed, he carried the mail only two months. From that time till October, 1804, he carried it from Shelbyville to Russellville, Ky. In October, 1804, he commenced carrying the mail on horse-back from Wheeling, Virginia, to George Bey- mer's in Ohio, a distance of 50 miles, with a led horse and a hea.vy mail on each. In 1805-6, he carried the mail from Wheeling, through St. Clairsville, Zanesville, and New Lancaster, to Chilli- cothe. In February, 1823, he commenc- ed on the route between Bellefontaine 86 THE PIONKKI! and Perrysburg, a distance of 81 miles, through a wilderness, there being but one family residing in Hardin county, and but one -postoffice on the route, and that (Findlay) at this place. Mr. Gor- don was the only contractor on this route from February 1 , 1823, to December 31, 1839. Sim.' ' 1839, he has carried the mail semi-weekly from Bellefontaine to this place, 55 miles." Few indeed have constitutions suffi- ciently strong to endure such labor for such a length of lime. It is to such men a.- (iordon — to our hardy pioneers, who were ready to encounter all kinds of toil and privation, that Ohio owes her pres- ent state of prosperity and advancement. For such men we cannot but cherish sen- timeirts of respect. The Postoffice Jacob Stouffer's cabin here was the central point of the new postoffice move- ment. Henry Walker, son-in-law of Stouffer was to be the postmaster. The Walkers and Stouffers occupied the same cabin: it stood on the high ridge just east of Main street, not far north of Merry avenue. (iordon on one of his northward trips had stopped at Stouffer's as was his usual custom, in passing; the petition for the new office was ready, except that the movers, two or three of whom were pres- ent, had not yet agreed upon a name. The old mail carrier wdio stood on the cabin steps listening to the discussion, said to Stouffer, half jestingly, "if you will give me a tumbler of cider I'll give you just the name." Drank to Bowling Green Stouffer who had brought out a keg of cider from Columbiana county, filled a glass and handed it to Gordon; the latter briefly explaining how appropriate the name he would suggest was to the landscape about them, said with a sweep of his arm. "Here's to the new postoffice of Howling Green," swallowed the cider and was in the act of mounting his horse when those present detained him a mo- ment while they could write a name in the petition, which, sure enough, was the one (iordon had suggested. The pa peis were soon folded, and on their way to Perrysburg for some addi- iional endorsements, after which they were sent to Washington.-^ The office was established March 12, 1834? In 186.5, when Walker sold his place, he and the Stouffers moved over to the west side of Main street, where the office was kept for a time, since which it has had many dif- ferent locations and masters. Afterwards in 1855, when the village was incorporated, there seemed no good reason why it should not take the same name as the postoffice, under which name it had been going in fact since in the early fifties. That is the way Bowling Green came to have its name. White Hall Tavern Aside from school and church work Bowling Green had but little history prior to the time she was incorporated, that does not properly come within the purview of the histories of Plain and Center townships. Robert Mackey's store enterprise at the Xapoleon road in the south pari of town, intended as the nucleus of the village of Mt. Ararat, never, under its various proprietors, met expectations. John Tiannon in the north end of the street, with his tavern and blacksmith shop did not attract village neighbors about him. When, in 1847, Dr. E. D. Peck sent L. C. Locke out here to start a mercantile enterprise, most of the settlers were sure it would he a fail- ure ; the proprietors did not feel san- guine for the stock was opened on a very small scale in a little room in one corner of a tavern called then White Hall, on the. west side of Main just north of the intersection of Liberty street, where a hotel called the American House has SCRAP-BOOK. >; since stood. A man named Gossett kept tLe hotel then. Locke's Store Locke soon felt encouraged to call on his partner for Larger quarters; then was Ml. Ararat's chance for resurrection; Locke tried to buy out Emerson, Eaton & Co., who were sort of successors to Mackey, though in a newer, better build- ing and on the east side of Main street. I he owners declined to sell and the star of Mt. Ararat, sank to rise no more. Locke 1 (ought an acre of Alfred Thurstin, including that part, of the east side of Main street from the First National Bank south, and taking in the opera house, and there built a store and resi- dence under one roof; his trade was pros- perous, and not long after he was ap- pointed postmaster and a little later built and operated an ashery, the first manu- facturing enterprise begun in the village, if we except Caleb Lord's cabinet shop. Locke had by his enterprise practically determined where the center of the vil- lage would, be. Anyone who came in af- ter that, and wanted to go into business, Located as near Locke's as he could get. A New Era Opened The advent of a second railroad here opens a new chapter — a new era in the history of Bowling Green. This circum- stance is of greater import to the town than the first casual thought would sug- gest. \ot in the sense that we expect the town to be a center of vast population or a great commercial or manufacturing center. Its development in these respects rests largely with those who now rule its destiny — their enterprise, ambition and far-sightedness. The railroad from north to south, a distance of :!<> miles through a rich and largely unoccupied portion of the coun- ty, will not only develop a vastly increas- ed trade' and make better market facili- ties for the town, but settle forever its status as the business center — capital, of one of the largest and most prosperous agricultural counties in Ohio. As san- guine as many of our people felt on this point, it was not settled beyond cavil un- til this road came. This settles it and the town now stands on solid footing in this respect. It is the capital of a grand and populous county. It is the official business center and is naturally the trad- ing center. A number of lots were sold at public auction in Perrysburg, in 1823. THE BELL SCHOOL HOUSE Purpose for Which It Was Built Much In- terest Attached to It Whereabouts of the Bell Discovered TllL Bell school house was built in 1841, says Joseph K. Tracy, on Sec- tion 26, Plain township, by John White- head, John E. Jenkins, carpenters, and Joseph I'. Tracy and other residents as- sisting. The money was contributed by the Leading citizens of the township, who desired to have a house for a private school, as well as for religious purposes. The bell, from which the house took its name, was formerly used on the Mission Chapel on the Maumee river. It was presented to the builders of the school bouse and placed in a cupola erected for the purpose. A subscription school was carried on for a number of years, after which the house passed into the posses- sion of the common school trustees. Some time in 1857, the house was de- stroyed by fire, and another building was erected for the same purposes about a THE P10XEEU mile to the west. The Methodist class that used to meet there was merged into the church at Bowling Green. The same is true of the Baptist and Congrega- tional adherents. Each became the members of larger churches. Thus the particular necessity of this school build- ing ceased. The bell has been the subject of much theorizing as to what became of it. As far as can be learned, it being the prop- erty of Isaac Van Tassel, he took pos- session of it and removed it. Mr. J. E. Judson says it was removed in 1845 on the plea that the belfry was not safe. He says he does not know who had charge of it the next 10 or 12 years, but he is pretty certain that it was placed in the Minton school house in the late 50's. Newton Stearns says it is on the Minton school house and has not been changed. He says he bought the bell for $2 and sold it for $3 to Nate Minton. T. W. Minton. writing under date of Eebruary 1. 1909, says, "In 1870, a new school house was built on his father's farm in Plain township, five miles west of Bowl- ing Green — that his father learned where the old mission bell was and went and bought it for something like $3.00 from a 'party Avest of Bowling Green, and if I remember correctly he presented it to the district by placing it on top of the school building and it is there today if it has not been taken down." Mr. C. W. Kvers once doubted whether the old Mission bell and that on the Minton school house was the same. But after more thorough investigation and the statements of those upon whom he could rely he was less skeptical and ad- mitted the probability that they were the same. Mr. Evers attended school in the old Bell school house in 1846-7, and had many tender associations in all that per- tained to it. In writing of the bell he says: "Its silvery peals swelled up from that little forest-hidden chapel over for- est and glade, and bore the glad tidings to the scattered settlers, far and near, that some one would preach, some one would sing, and some one would pray that day at the 'Bell'. That bell was the pioneer evangelist of this kind in Wood county, or for that matter in Northwestern Ohio. It came with the vanguard of Civilization." LAST OF BIG GAME The Last Bear That Was Killed Within the Limits of Wood County IN the Sentinel of November 27, 1884, Mr. Evers gives substantially the story, as told by Wm. Mears and J. G. Ralston, of the killing of the last bear ever slain in Wood county: it was late in the fall of 1858; there was a nice tracking snow on the ground. Wash. G. Avery, who then lived on his farm north of town, was out hunting; had wounded a deer and was following in its track when, about three o'clock in the afternoon he came across a big brown bear poking along in the woods. Mr. Avery thought no more about h'is deer, but immediately turned his attention to the "bigger game.''' His gun was a small one, and not just the thing to tackle a bear with, but Wash did not stop to think of that, but pulled up and blazed away. The ball struck the bear in the thigh, inflicting a flesh wound of no conse- quence, and bruin set off in an easterly direction. Wash went over to Joe Ral- ston's on Sugar Ridge, and got Joe and SCRAP-BOOK. 89 Geo. Walker, who were there visiting, and the three sel out. in pursuit. They fol- Li wed. the trail as far as the McCutchen- ville road over in Webster, and then, ii l)eing late in the aighl and all hands be- ing tired, they went to the Ten Mil'' house and stayed until morning. At daylight they were again on the trail, the crowd re-enforced by (he addition of Jesse Williams, a harness maker from Perrysburg, and a friend of his. They followed the trail to the Ottawa county line, where they found that the bear had taken the back track, crossing the Mc- CutchenviUe road within a mile or so of where they had started in the morning. As they crossed the road, they found that some one else,, with a dog had taken the trail- Jesse Williams said it was old Jake Hedinger. an old hunter who lived in the vicinity; said he knew his track. Away they all started on the dead run, whooping and halloing to Hedinger to stop and wait for them, but he did not stop. They finally heard the dogs and taking a short cut came up with Heding- er. They found where the bear had at- tempted to climb two different cotton- wood trees, but had been pulled down by Hedinger's big dog, and had been obliged to continue his flight by the near ap- proach of the men. Tie finally came out and crossed the plank road at the inter- section of Center and Middleton township lines. When the men came out on the plank road Williams and his friend fol- lowed the trail after the dogs, and Ral- ston went down the plank road to watch what was then called the Rudolph road. Win. Avery. Wm. Mears, and Benj, Johnson had been hunting that day in east of the John Hood place, north of the bend. Mr. Mears had killed a turkey gobbler that weighed 55 lbs., and they were returning homeward. Mr. Johnson had left them and gone home, and the others mel doe jusl as he turned off from the plank road, and an explanation en- sued, when Mears and Wm. Avery agreed to join the bear hunt. They agreed that the bear which had gone away in west of the road would attempt to get back to the Devil's Hole, and that they had bet- ter station themselves along what was known as the Rudolph ditch. Ralston, Mears and Wm. Avery accordingly went over on the ditch. Joe Ralston took up his station on the ditch-bank, while Wm. Avery stood about L5 rods east of Joe, and Mears about the same distance east o1' Avery. As it began to get dusk they heard the dogs coming, yelping at every jump. Pretty soon bruin came in sight of Joe, lumbering along to within a few- yards of him, with back bowed up, mouth open and tongue hanging out, looking tired and savage. Joe pulled up his gun — and it snapped. Tried it again, but it was no good. By this time the bear had passed on to Mr. Avery, who. owing to the gathering darkness could not see to shoot very good. He fired, however, striking the bear in the back, but not inflicting a serious wound. Now came Mr. Mears' turn. He waited until the bear was within a few- feet of him, and had just cleared a 14-foot ditch at a bound, when he put a half -ounce ball through his heart. Bruin fell, apparent- ly dead, and the dogs coming up at that instant, sailed in, and then immediately sailed out again, for, with his last strength, the bear struck one of them a terrible blow with his paw, knocking him about 20 feet away, whereupon the two dogs set off through the woods, howling as if "the old Nick" was after them. When they found that the hear was dead, Mears, Avery and Ralston set up a shout of triumph which soon brought Wash., Williams and Hedinger to the scene. After a coii.-ii 1 1 a t ion it was de- cided to take the bear up to Thomas' tavern and there divide up. They ac- cordingly dragged the carcass through the snow to the [dace of destination. Arriving at the tavern, those who felt !>() THE PIONEER disposed to do so celebrated the occasion by Indulging in a little tangle-foot, after which (hey divided the bear, winch weighed about 250 pounds. Wash, took the hide, and the meat was divided among the others, after which all went home. tired and worn out. hut well pleased with the day's adventure. This is the story of the last, "big game" ever brought down, or which probably ever will be broughl down in Wood county. TURKEY FOOT ROCK A Boulder Monument Commemorative of Wayne's Great Victory THE large boulder called "Turkey Fool Rock" which lavs on the north hank of the Maunicc denotes the point on tin river where (ien. Wayne gained a decisive victory over the combined Indian tribes of the Northwest, on August 20, 1794. The Indians were principally directed and commanded by Blue Jacket and Little Turtle, and the tribes engaged included the Shawanese, Miauiis, Wyandot ts, Pot- fcawattomies, Delawares, Ohippewas, Otta- was and a lew Senecas and other rem- nants of tribes. The Wyandotts, a once powerful tribe lost all their child's, nine in number, at that battle, and tradition says that one of the hravest of their clan, called "Turkey Foot," was slain by Wayne's infuriated followers near this rock and that after Wayne, whom the Indians called the "Whirlwind" was gone, the few scattering members of the Wyandotl nation repaired to the spot where their beloved chief had fallen and carved the representation of a Imge turkey's foot on the rough boulder with their hatchets. This roughly chiseled turkey's foot is still to he seen, although the rock has been sadly defaced by sacrilegious and disrespectful hands. The armies of Banner and St. Clair had been butchered and destroyed, and the savages, encouraged by the. British agents, were exultant and Mood thirsty. Bui an avenging Nemesis was after them at last. The highest tribute paid to Wayne's generalship, was by Little Turtle in a council speech the night previous to the battle, which he was not in favor of. Said he, "the Americans are now led by a chitd' who never sleeps. The night and the day are alike to him. During all the time he has heen marching OH our vil- lages we have heen unahle to surprise him. Think well of it." Hut. the coun- sel of Blue Jackel who was more bloody and precipitate prevailed. The Indians were overpowered, out generaled, driven into the river and almost annihilated, and the glad tidings were heralded across the Allcghanies in shouts of triumph. That, boulder is a mute reminder of the battle of Fallen Timber. A Piece of Fiction In a communication to the Sentinel, the late (J. W. Lvers thus disposed of the prevalent theory thai Turkey Fool was an Indian chief: I notice in your daily of June L"> that Dr. Dwight Canfield in his review of the battle of Fallen Timber has fallen into the usual mistake of people who write about Turkey Foot rock. There is such a rock as we all know, but that there was a "noted Indian child'" named Turkey Foot, as he stated and as many others have done, I deny. I know I am going in the face of a long standing legend- — breaking an idol as it were: hut it is host, that we get our history of the long ago correct before it is too late. If any one interested, will take the trouble io consult a hook written per- TURKEY FOOT ROCK Al the Presque Isle Hill, Where It Marks the Site of the Battle of Fallen Timber SCKAL'-EOOK. 93 haps some time in 1830 or possibly earl- ier when the Indians were still here, by T. M. Coffinberry, called the Forest Hangers, foot note, page; — (1 have not the book before me, though several of them are owned in Toledo) they will get the facta, regarding Turkey Foot rock. Mr. Cofhn berry was a lawyer, lived at Perrysburg, was well educated and ming- led, out of curiosity perhaps, much with the Indians, and knew their habits, cus- toms and history quite well. According to his statement, 1 give the substance rather than his words, the In- dian killed, at or near the big boulder, August 20, 1794, was a sub-chief of the turkey clan of the Wyandott tribe, whose totem or coat of arms or monogram was the imprint of a turkey's foot. Each tribe is divided into more or less clans; (he beavei-, the muskrat, the eagle, the dog, the bear, or any favorite object may be adopted as the emblem of a clan. A turkey in Wyandott is Massas. This warrior, killed that day was evi- dently popular and beloved of his clan for they not only carved the emblem of the dan, a turkey's footprint on the big granite boulder, but always, when pass- ing that way, some of his kin or clan would stop and leave some little tribute of their affection, oftener plug tobacco than anything else. Thus it was the stone took the name Turkey Foot rock. There was no noted chief of that name. No treat} record with the Indians hears such a name. No such name is mentioned in the many fights before Wayne's battle. If lie had been a noted warrior, some where his name would appear. It is just a fiction of some of the white men of the later years and with some has grown into an honest belief as is the case with many other fictions we (ling to as truths. There is a turkey fool rock. It is a land mark denoting the high tide spot of Wayne's battle. Near it a brave of the turkey chin was killed. He was pop- ular and his clansmen cut the clan em- blem, the print, of a turkey's foot, on the stone and very naturally it has gone by the name Turkey Pool rock. Its chief importance, however, is that it marks the place of one of the great battles of the border war period. Until recently it was the only battle ground in this part of the Maumee valley that had a marker of any sort. The old rock should be cared for and preserved and above all when we take our school history pupils to these historic places we should give them the history straight — unmixed with any fiction or carelessly drawn conclusions formed without due investigation. UNBROKEN FORESTS Black Snakes, Rattlers, Wolves and Other Pests That Annoyed Early Settlers AN old pioneer of Perry township, in writing to the Sentinel, says that prior to the year 1830, the southern part of Wood county as far as known was without a living white settler. Its for- ests of oak, walnut, beech and poplar were primeval in beauty, and teemed with bears, wolves, deer and other animals, while countless multitudes of wild geese and ducks quacked in the tangled un- dergrowth along the various branches of the Portage. About the year 1830 solitary hunters would come in occasionally and chase a bear or herd of deer, but for the most part it remained an unbroken wilderness, and although speculators and those con- templating actual sett lenient had entered lands, they were laughed at, for their 94 THE PIONEER credulity ii' they asserted it would ever be a habitable region. The "Munchau- sen" stories of the Black Swamp repre- sented it as being occupied by a species of genii closely allied to mother Eve's persuader. Black snakes were said to at- tain constrictor proportions, while the dread rattle!' was supposed to hiss forked lightning from every stump and crevice. Gradually, however, these stories became ''old/' and some adventurous spirits be- gan to talk seriously of making a "clear- ing." The cholera which made its first ap- pearance in the United States in 1831, spread north with great rapidity and dire effects. At the old town of Gallipolis on the Ohio, its advent was felt and sent many northward, who preferred any hard- ship to a tussle with the dread malady. Named Millgrove In the election of '34 the number of voters had increased to twenty-eight, and during the fall and winter the settlement at the McCormick entry was sufficiently large to warrant James McCormick in surveying a. piece of his land and laying it out in lots. He secured the services of Davis, and lots were laid on the Mc- Cutehenville road, and the road to Fre- mont and the streets named Main and Sandusky. Since thai lime several addi- tions have been made and, new streets laid out. McCormick named the town Mill Grove; to which has been suffixed West to distinguish it from Mill Grove in Morgan county. The sale of lots was slow and building slower. The Wolves One of the greatest pests to the raising of any kind of stock were wolves, the forests seemed literally alive with them, and in the winter they were ravenous, attacking every living animal from a chicken to even the settler himself. Gradually, however, they disappeared, drew deeper into the forest, and it has been many years since the wolf lost his identity in the county. Settlers used different modes to protect their stock from them, the steel trap and chain be- ing very effective. Many daring exploits are related of the old hunters then young men, chuck full of grit. One is worth relating. George McCormick at that time a mere boy, went out one morning to see his trap, and found a very large wolf fast hut unhurt. Now as there were some new settlers just come in, George deter- mined they should have a close view of a live wolf. After considerable planning he succeeded in tying the wolf's mouth and feet. He then very coollv strapped him on his back and walked home, a distance of over a mile. THE HOLLINGTONS Like Other Early Settlers They Shared in the Sufferings of Pioneer Life AMO^G the list of early settlers of Plain township, may be mentioned Richard Bollington, who came out to the Maumee country in the year 1834, by the lake, and almost directly from England, lie entered tOO acres of land, embracing what is now a fine farm south of Bowling Green. Mr. Holling- ton selected a spot about one-fourth of a mile west of the Findlay road as his future abiding place, and in course of time had a fine orchard of apple trees planted from the old Station orchard on the Maumee. After contracting with a man named MeK night, for the building of a log house, and buying two yoke of oxen (the first ever owned in the township) he re- SCRAP-BOOK. 95 turned to Buffalo for his family, whom he hiii I preceded in search of a home. He had ii wife and five children, four son- and one daughter. Richard, the eldesl son, then L3 years of age, became av residenl of Williams county, this State. Mary became the wife of Hon. Octavius Waters, of Fulton county. Joseph was a residenl of Bowling Green. William, the youngest of the family, be- came a residenl of M issouri. Ambrose, next to the youngest, will be remembered by many of the present day throughout this section of Ohio, as Rev. Ambrose Hollington, who was classed among the most eloquenl of pulpit ora- tors. His son. Dr. K. D. Hollington, of St. Paul's M. E. Church; Toledo, is des- tined to become as famed as his father. Privation and Inexperience In due time the Hollingtons arrived at the dock in Perrysburg, where the rough side of life's reality in the Black Swamp, sei in. Mr. Hollington had in the old country been a Tradesman, while his wife, who was a well educated woman, had been ac- customed to all the comforts and con- veniences of Life. But her piano had been lefl across the ocean, and the only music she would be Likely to hear for many Long months would be a medley of uncouth sounds of frogs, mosquitoes, wild beasts and birds. Hollington knew noth- ing of woodcraft, did not know how to use an ax. in fact with his wife, he was enter- ing upon an undertaking rendered doubly trying because of their inexperience. After a toilsome journey through swamps and forests, they finally arrived at the cabin of Joseph Mitchell, who had settled a short time previous near the south boundary of the township, and ahout two miles north of Cass' Corners, in Liberty township. The Mitchells had barely go1 their cabin covered. A place for a door and small window had been cut out, but lumber for a door or glass for windows were practically out of the question then, nor had the cabin even a puncheon floor, hut such as they had the early settlers shared freely with each other, or with the stranger who came among them. It was here in mid-winter, after the last weary day of their long journey was done. that, the Hollingtons began fully to take in the situation. They had reached the goal of their ambition, free America, where every man is a law unto himself, no kingly power, no necks galled with the yoke of oppression, no ex- cisemen, a land of plenty and unmixed happiness. But alas, how different the picture of fancy and the homely reality. A Triumph Through Tears Mrs. Hollington, of all the souls gath- ered there, was the most disheartened and most keenly realized their discon- solate situation. Overcome at last by he]- feelings, she sank down on one of the floor sleepers and burst out crying. But her grief was not the grief of de- spair. It was a transition in her life pilgrimage. This evanescent storm of tears seems to have washed awav all the weaker elements of her womanly na- ture, and instead of the dependent, timid woman, -he became the strong arm, the pillar of strength in that household; when her husband grew despondent, she spoke words of encouragement to him. With each new and trying vicissitude, h r courage arose. No trial seemed too great for her fortitude. She seemed sud- denly to have been imbued with that strength of character and tenacity of pur- pose which can surmount every difficulty, and which in all ages of the world has made men heroes. The family remained at Mitchell's ahout six weeks, and their own house still being incompleted, they moved with what few articles they had. to the cabin of Lee Moore, ju-i iii the south edge of the pres- ent town of Bowling Green. -C. II'. E. 90 THE PIONEEE INDIAN ASSOCIATES In Milton Township Hardships of Settlers Expert Hunter Coon Pot Pie Rev. Joseph Badger IN i he Sentinel of November 29, 1883, Mr. Evers Bays that .lames Hutch- inson, sr., and family, and sons Andrew and .lames and families, who came from Summit county, Ohio, in April, 1834, were the first settlers within the borders of what is now known as Milton town- ship. The family of Mr. Hutchinson, besides his wife and two married sons, consisted of three daughters. Andrew and wife had twelve children. In James Hutchinson, jr's. family were only him- self and wife. These families found Milton to be an unbroken forest, the home of the red man and the abiding place of the deer, wolf and bear. Not a tree had been cut in the township, unless by hunters, and everything was in a state of nature. They came with five yoke of oxen and one span of horses, making their journey from Summit, county in ten days; they took what is now the Maumee and West- ern Eeserve road to Perrysburg, then al- most bottomless with mud, thirty miles in length and supplied with a tavern to every mile, and one to spare. At times on their journey the wagons would get stuck, compelling them to put all five yoke of oxen to one wagon to pull it out. From Perrysburg they traveled most of the way over what was known as "Hull's Trace" to Lee Moore's place, in the south part of Bowling Green. From there Mr. Moore piloted them by the way of the sand ridge to their future home, and for many a mile they were obliged to cut their way through the woods, step by step. The three men with the help of the women, on their arrival, immediately set to work to build a cabin, which they completed in forty-eight hours ready for occupancy, and in which they slept on the second night spent on the premises. This cabin, the first in the township, stood on the farm entered by Mr. Hutch- inson, sr. Indian Associates After getting a good start on this farm each of the sons entered a piece of land and built a cabin for himself. The only associates of these families until the next settlers moved in, were the Indians, who of course, were very numerous. The In- dians had a camp for years on the place owned later by Morris Brown and by H. C. Strow, and after being disturbed there, camped for a long time on the east side of the Van Tassel farm. The settlers' children and Indian pap- pooses would play together day after day just as neighbors' children do now. The Indians learned the sports of the whites and vice versa. The Indians lived most- ly on hominy and wild game, such as venison, . coon, wood-chuck, 'possum, musk-rat, etc. Andrew Hutchinson states that he had often when visiting their camps, seen large copper kettles (which they obtained from the government) con- taining perhaps eight or ten fat coon each, mixed with hominy and water, swung over a fire and boiling like a young volcano. The coon would be skin- ned and quartered, then thrown in the kettle head, feet, claws and all. Mr. Hutchinson relates that his brother .Tames went back to Summit county and married a rather fashionable young lady who came out to the Wood county wilder- ness to share the trials of the pioneer life with her husband. About the first Sunday she was there they went to visit their neighbors — red neighbors, and of course were invited to stay to dinner. The young Summit county bride took a look into one of the kettles and got a full sniff of the steaming coon pot-pie SCRAP-BOOK, 91 which so sickened her that she had to be taken off home which amused the In- dians very much. Expert Hunter Mr. Andrew Eutchinson, who, with his father and brother were, as before -tated, the lirst settlers of the township, is yet living (1883) at Milton Center, and though 74 years old, told us a few days since that he had cleared 12 acres of laud the past year. Mr. Hutchinson when young was one of the best hunters in northwestern Ohio. He supplied most of his pioneer neighbors with their meat, such as venison, turkeys and other wild game, and they in turn would work on his farm to pay him for hunting; "Change works" it was called. He was schooled in the art of hunting by the Indians, and hunted with them day after day. In giving him instructions about hunting they would say : "White man hunt deer slow, go still. When see deer watch him elose. When deer look up, white man stop, stand straight; when get close take good aim, fire, and down come deer." He evidently followed their in- structions well, as he said he had killed probably not less than 2,000 deer in his time. Rev. Joseph Badger Some time later Kev. Joseph Badger and family, moved in from near the old Missionary Station" and lived on the farm now owned by M. B. Todd. Fath- er Badger was a soldier in the Revolution- ary war, chaplain in a regiment of Har- rison's army in the war of 1812 and he was also present at the siege of Fort Meigs, near which place his ashes now repose (the Perrysburg cemetery). He was a man of deep piety, greatly respect- ed by all, kind and generous, was never known to refuse a favor, and would ren- der assistance to an Indian or even a dog. The esteem in which he was held can be aptly illustrated by the follow- ing fact. He was on principle opposed to hunting on the Sabbath, as was the custom of many of the hardy, careless pioneers. But they knew Mr. Badger's opposition to the practice and if they chanced to pass near his house on a Sab- hath hunt they would always as a mat- ter of respect to his feelings, leave the road and go around his house in the woods and thus escape his observation. TINGE OF ROMANCE The Story of Horace Cady Why the Young Frenchman, James Bloom, Came to Wood HORACE CAD'S was an eastern man and at, oik; time quite wealthy. Me lost heavily in a large speculation and as is always the case his position and the prestige of his family among the wealthy social circles of the east dimin- ished with his fortune. He chanced to come west with a friend and while in this county became favorably impressed with it as a refuge for his family from the outside world and settled here in 1832 or '.'53. Leaving his family he started for South America with the hope of regaining his lost fortune. While on his way to Valparaiso, he ca across a dashing and spirited young Frenchman of high parentage and wealth who was also on a lour of speculation in Lima, Peru. He became much at- tached to the young man and after they had been in South America some time, Cady not making anv advancement in 98 THE PIONEKK his project and the young Frenchman losing heavily in his operations, they concluded to return to the United States and Cady invited his friend to accompany him to his home in this count}', which he did. The young Frenchman, with his high ideas and aristocratic notions was not favorably impressed with the country but what was lacking in this was made up by the presence at Cady's home of a fine looking and accomplished daughter to whom he soon become greatly attached and in a short time married and settled I'm- life in Liberty. The young French- man was dames Bloom and the daughter, Ilarricl Cady, became M rs. Harriet Bloom. Though this story may not be correct in every particular, it. in main explains how Mr. Bloom came to reside in Liber- ty, lie was evidently never cut out for a farmer and the style of life he was compelled to live, in the early days here, failed to bring prosperity. He died about is; ii at an old age, and his re- mains now lie in the Liberty township cemetery. To tell how these first settlers toiled to make comfortable homes of their "farms in the wilderness" of the priva- tions ami hardships they endured, of their great distance from family supplies, etc., would be simply a repetition of what has been said of other localities. Two things, however, worthy of mention that used to be the greatest enemies of the early set- tlers were the Ague and Mosquitoes Ask any old settler of Liberty to-day about the mosquitoes and he will tell voi i the swamps along the Portage river in those days bred the best specimens of mosquitoes the world ever saw. They were of the Jumbo type, blessed with long lives, powerful endurance and a perseverance equaled only by the settlers themselves. And as the latter sat around their cabin homes on warm, pleasant evenings, their only mode of protection from the ravages of these little perse- cutors would be to build a "smudge" and envelop themselves in the smoke arising from the same, like a ham in a smoke house. As a breeder of malarial com- plaints the Portage had an established reputation. As soon as the summer and fall months rolled past they would bring with them malarial fevers of the most dreaded type and ague in all the stages and forms known. Whole families would he stricken down at one lime and many of them died from the dread complaint. Dr. Eli Manville, father of the late Dr. A. J. Manville, was the first doctor to practice in this community and the way he fed quinine to his patients was a cau- tion, but he was a blessing to the com- munity, saved many lives and is grate- fully remembered by his few surviving patients of 70 years ago. — C. W. E. MIAMI OF THE LAKE A Paper Published at Perrysburg 72 Years Ago Gleanings from Wood County's Oldest Newspaper WRITING to the Wood County h'iiiocrat, a correspondent gives the following sketch of interest: Rumaging through a trunk of old time records recently, several copies of a Perrysburg newspaper came into view, called "Miami of the Lake." These cop- ies were dated in March and April of 1837— about 72 years ago. J. H. Mc- Bride was the editor and publisher. The first page of these numbers is largely made up of literary matter, both prose and poetry. One article by Judge Story is entitled. "What, is to Become of This Country?" ITe refers to the na- SCBAP-BOOK 99 Hone of the old world — to (Jreece, Rome, Italy, Venice, Genoa — one time republics, that have passed away. He doses in an impassioned appeal in the following lan- guage: "I call upon you, fathers, by t lie shades of your ancestors, by the dear ashes which repose in this precious soil, by all you hope to he, resist every project of disunion, resist every attempt to fetter your conscience, or smother our public schools, or extinguish your system of public instruction." After proceeding at some Length in his appeal to the fathers, the mot hers and the young men of America, he thus concludes: "Life can never be too short, which brings nothing but disgrace and oppres- sion. Death never comes too soon, if necessary, in defense of the liberties of our country/' In the number of April 5, L837, an important discovery is announced — "the greatesl since the days of Franklin. James P. Espy, Esq., has ascertained that the weather i- regulated by fixed, unal- terable laws — easily understood, so that the captain of a vessel may I'll wheth- er there is a storm raging anywhere with- in 500 miles of him, and how he may direct his course so as to avoid it. The proceedings of the Ohio legisla- tors in both the senate and house of re- presentatives are given at considerable length, occupying nearly a page. The paper is a four page folio, with six columns to a page. At the head of the editorial columns delinquent subscribers are stirred up — needed, "badly needed." The panic of 1837 was then spreading over the country, and "the money market at New York was hourly becoming more alarming." II n. John Hollister was the represent- of this district, and the district em- braced nine northern counties, in which was included some of the most import- ant works of internal improvement in the stale. In speaking of Hollister, the editor -ays: "There has been a straight forward and honorable course adopted and pursued by the representative from this district, in all matters of legisla- tion, which has received the approbation of political enemies as well as political friend.-." In another editorial the condition of the Western Reserve Road is scored in the severest language. Says the editor, I' is only those who have become stalled in the mud, in endeavoring to work their way through this Ohio Golgotha, that can draw a true picture of this stigma upon the character of the state." Again he Bays: "Teams are not unfre- quently five days in passing through this section of the road of thirty-one miles in extent!" From an editorial on the money panic may be found the following: "One firm in New York alone has paid the enormous sum of $30,000, usury money the past year." "The mo.-t wealthy and prudent firms are disheartened and ready to yield to the pressure of the time-." "The rich men are now made poor, and the poor made beggars." "Every man in the country is now made to suffer except the broker and (xtortioner/3 "Every day matter- grow wor-e. and as the exchanges are -till becoming more deranged, thick gloom and darknee upon the future." Petitions from many points were pre- sented to the Ohio Legislature for the construction of the Wabash and Erie '•anal on the southeast side of the Manmee river from Defiance to the lake, which location was never realized. In markets fresh beef and pork quoted at 8 to 12c; butter SO to 85c; eggs, L2 to L5c; flour, per bbl., $11.50. In the Perrysburg marine list arrivals of vessel- from .March 30 to April 1. 100 THE PIOXEER were steamboats General Jackson and Oliver Newberry from Detroit, with pas- sengers; steamboat Cincinnati from Cleveland, with passengers; also schoon- er Delphos from Cleveland with pork, flour and merchandise. During the same time the departures were steamboats General Jackson and Cincinnati for Detroit, with passengers; steamboat Oliver Newberry, for Cleve- land and Erie, with passengers, and the schooner Caroline, for Cleveland. A. Hills, postmaster advertises nearly 200 letters remaining in office April 1, 1837. The fourth page is mostly devoted to advertisements. J. Chappel, sheriff, advertises a num- ber of sales. Some ten or twelve legal notices are scattered through the paper. Independent voters are notified that John C. Smith is a candidate for Mayor. Among the merchants advertising their goods, Woodruff & Spafford, Rus* sell & Brigham, Beach & Bennett, J. Hollister & Co., Doan & Earl, Oren Clark and Spink & Smith. Jones & Tucker and Earl Brothers advertise their stores at Waterville. Forwarding and Commission mer- chants of Maumee and Perrysburg, com- prise the following firms: John Hollis- ter & Co., and Doan & Earl, of Perrys- burg; J. J. Bingham, Forsyth & Hazard, Cook and Kirtland and J. A. Scott, of Maumee. These firms publish their prices at length for storage, wharfage and commissions. D. Wilkison, Master, advertises that the steamer Commodore Perry will leave Buffalo every Monday evening for De- troit and Perrysburg. Will leave De- troit every Thursday morning and Perrys- burg every Thursday afternoon for Buf- falo. Charles Stoner offers six cents reward for a runaway apprentice. Leander Ransom, acting commissioner of the Board of Public Works advertises that "sealed proposals will be received at the town of Maumee in Lucas county, Ohio, on the 15th day of May, 1837, for the construction of so much of the line of the Wabash and Erie Canal, as lies between the head of the Rapids of the Maumee River and the eastern termina- tion of said Canal near the town of Man- hattan, at the head of the Maumee Bay." Several advertisements appear from Detroit, Erie, Pa., and other places. The following are the legal firms whose cards appear under the head of "Law Advertisements/' Henry Reed, jr., Horace Sessions, Henry Bennett, H. C. Stowel & J. D. Brown, J. C. Spink & A. C. Coffinbury, Isaac Stetson and Mason Brayman, the latter located in Buffalo. There are many points of interest em- braced in this relic of two generations ago, and not desiring to prove tedious with further detail, the foregoing is probably sufficient to indicate the activi- ties of the first settlers and business men at Perrysburg and along the Maumee river.— F. J. 0. Some geologists are of the opinion that Lake Erie, at one time, extended west- ward as far as the source of the Mau- mee, citing as evidence the existence of various "moraines" yet plainly visible in that vicinity. The first school house in the east part of Middleton township was a small log building built by joint contributions of the settlers on Section 24, in 1844, and Mrs. Amelius Robertson, who was then Margery Frazier, just from Glasgow, Scotland, was the first teacher. It was also for some years used as the first church for that community, until a so- ciety was organized at Haskins. SCRAP-BOOK. 101 THE TOWN OF BENTON Why It Was so Named Samuel Ewing Killed THE town of Benton, one of the "has- beens," was located a short distance west of Tontogany, and David Hedges was its proprietor. It was laid out during the best days of Thomas Benton, "Old Bullion" as he was called. Hedges was a Jackson Democrat, and a great admirer of aid "Tom/5 and named the town in his memory. The building used as Hedges' store was moved a way and was afterward used for a I tarn by Henry Nearing, on the Hedges farm, owned by Morehouse heirs. Mrs. Gen. Commager, of Toledo, was a daughter of fledges. The stone house on the place was built by him in 1834 or '35. Mr. John Whitehead, now of Ton- togany. who had just come on from New Jersey, helped to do the carpenter work. The saw mill at this poini did not stand very long. The ruin- of the cellar under the store building is all the vestige left of the town of Benton. It did not even live to get a saloon. The store house was moved and is now u^'d as a harn at the stone house. The Hedges place has a strong claim for priority of settlement in Washing- ton township, though our chronicler has in the recent sketch of the township, given the preference to the Chris Gundy farm located on by Michael Sypher in the spring of 1830. In lsi!) Samuel Ewing, father of An- ihon\ Ewing, ami of (lie late W. H. Ew- ing (Uncle Hank, near Hull's Prairie) settled on this place, then called Wolf Rapids. Killed at Rush-Te-Boo Ewing lived here until L823, when one day while at Richardson's tavern at Rush- te-boo, the same place where Porter shot Richardson, Ewing and a man named French got into an altercation and French struck Ewing in such a manner as lo dislocate his neck, killing him in- stantly. French was imprisoned on charge of murder in the little log jail at Maumee and escaped one night and never was heard of after. — Sentinel, 1888. BATTLE OF GRAND RAPIDS A Fierce and Savage Battle That Has Not Figured Largely in the War of 1812 GEN. L1DA of the Dmted States troops gave the following account of a fierce battle with the Indians in the war of 1812, on the site of the present village of Grand Rapids. It was not un- lil I-"' yea r> afterwards that he related this account of that battle. He said : """lie of the toughesl and mosl hotlv contested little battles ever fought in oui- Indian wars occurred just where your little village of Gilead now stands. A company of U. S. troops, of which I was one, was ordered from Defiance to Fort .Meigs. We passed down the north bank of the river. About noon on a certain da}r, we came opposite the island that is in the river there. Our commander chose this as a safe place to rest and eal dinner. About two hours were consumed in this way, and then we made prep- arations to continue our journey. Equip- ped as we were with the trappings of soldiers and the necessaries for an ex- tended march our freedom of locomotion was not a little encumbered. We pro- 10? 'I'lIK PIONEER ceeded to cross the Rapids to the Bouth bank, bul only a little over half the dis- tance had been accomplished, when, with- out a moment's warning, from the top of tlui bank and beautiful grove over the bottom from the river to the bluff behind, belched forth a volley <>f musketry wounding several of our men, but killing Qone outright. The foes, of course, were Indians, who appeared to be a host in number. They had been lying in close concealment, but after the first discharge could be seen, and 1 remember, to me at least, everj tree in the bottom seemed to conceal an Indian. We promptly took refuge under rover of the bank before they could load and fire again. The river bank here was bluffy and perhaps 15 feet in height. VVe found immediate protection hen" from the enemy's fire, and began making our way gradually down the river to a ravine about 80 rods distant, carrying our wounded with us. "This ravine was a dense thicket of brushwood and larger trees, while, from the high ground to the river was free from brush: the trees were principally maple and made a beautiful looking grove, which for six hours we were com- pelled to turn into a bloody battle field. Before night the dead and dying had been strewn from one end o( the bottom to the other. A- soon as we had suc- ceeded in establishing ourselves in the shelter o( the ravine, we began to be aggressive in our operations, forcing our way up the bottom, keeping ourselves in the protection of every friendly cov- ert afforded by thicket, tree and hollow, and compelled the savage foe to retire from place to place; driving them stead- ily up the bottom until we reached -1 point about a hundred or more rods from our place o( starting, where two or three mound like knobs with ravines and thickets furnished capital rallying points for the Indians. Taking advantage of this they, with redoubled exertion, forced us back over all the ground we had gained. In like manner we must have passed back and forth over the battle ground five or six nine- during the af- ternoon. Each time we fell back we were careful to carry our dead and wounded with us as far ;i> possible — to our rallying point below. "On that hotly contested ground many met in hand to hand encounter, at short intervals throughout the entire afternoon. Amid the sharp crack of rifles came the battle shout o( the whites, the warhoop o( the savage, and the death yell! No one can realize the horrible and blood- eurdling sensation produced l>\ the death yell o( an Indian, except, one who has seen and heard for himself. The groans o( wounded and dying, ami that green bottom land grow, all this, eonies up before me to-day, as vividly as they were produced in that battle on the lonely banks o( the Maumee over forty-five years ago, and I say again it was a bat- tle well worthy of the name. L had been in a dozen battles ami skirmishes before that, and several after, but none were as active and fierce, in contest; so tenacious and stubborn in holding every advantage* considering the number of combatants engaged ami length of time fought incessantly. The soldiers number- ed about one hundred and twenty-rive and o( the Indians, no doubt, they were double that many. The dosing act in this forest tragedy occurred, as dusk was coming on, by our force driving the Indians to the bluffs before mentioned. We then retired t<> our ravine to watch the night through. The Indians did not follow us, and during night for some reason, withdrew from the vicinity entirely, leaving us to bury our dead and go on our way unmolested." In the course o( narrating this bloody encounter, Gen. Lida became quite ab- sorbed with the memories of the past Evidently this incident of all others in his life impressed him the most. He had been a soldier under Wayne and seen much of Indian warfare. SCRAP-BOOK. ] 03 MERCER SETTLEMENT Advent of Caleb Mercer A Plucky Young- ster Lost in the Woods Tur- key Fight CALEB fcfEBCEE second of the Mercer family to come to Wood county, and arrived here at the age of 19, in March 1834- He started out as a mere boy from hie horn'- in Columbiana county, to seek his fortune in the wilder- ness of western Ohio. All he brought with him was his "knapsack" and gun, and monej enough to enter a small piece of land. He was nine days on his journey of 300 miles, and spent his first night in Wood county at the house of ael Powers, the first settler at the "forks"" in Freedom township, and from there went to his brother, George Mer- cer, in Liberty, who had at this time been here about a year. Jt is needless to say it required pluck for a mere boy to start out alone, on foot, to make a long journey into an unknown and al- uninhabited wild 'hrough mud and water, and leave behind friends and rela - k a home in the forest familiar only to the red man and the objects of his pre . Young Mercer immediately on his ar- rival located land in Section 14, of Lib- erty, and set out in a day or two, again on foot, for Bucyrus, a dists 00 miles, to enter the land at tne land of- fice. He left the bouse of Collister Has- kins about 10 o'clock one cloudy March day, intending to reach Fostoria, then called Rome, that night. After he had proceeded on his journey about five miles, e way of an Indian trail lead- ing in a southeasterly direction, he heard a queer noise in the woods off to one side of the trail, and being curious as to its • proceeded to inv< - - tnd found it wa Three Hundred Wild Turb That \\<-a-<; fighting a terribl* He : he had D£ .in his life, and it is probah • .ng<- flocks bad con i and the matter of chief gobbler cidecL After dispersing the battle of t'-. he turned to find the trail he had left, but much 10 his dismay he- was unable to find it. He wandered about for some time and soon became confused and lost. After a time he struck a e mean- dering of which he aimlessly followed un- til about dark, when the welcome sound of a cow bell struck bis ear Follow the sound he ame upon a cow, and r by perceived the blue smoke curling up from a cabin, which he thinks must have stood near the I; county line, •u going to the little hut he found a man and woman just prepai abandon their home in the wilder the next morning. Mercer asked for something t< . tent for the night, and was inform"'! they hadn't "a bit/- in the house to eat," but that he might remain over night, which he did. next morning he got his bearings, and struck for Piorne which he reached that afternoon, wlwj e something to th<- first nourishment he had had • his departure from Haskins' about thirty hours before. From Rome lie pro- ceeded to Bucyrus. entered his land and returned again on fo Jt might be stated here, that Mr. Mercer traveled the road b Columbiana county and Wood county, a distance of 200 miles, on foot five times, and Bucyrus and here, 00 miles, on foot - times. The san. - _ ared five acres of land on his new farm and built a cabin. The fi - he planted to corn and a small patch of potatoes. The corn crop was devoured by the squirrels 104 THE PIONEER and coon, but he managed to save a few potatoes. The following fall he went back to Columbiana county for bis father (Win. Mercer) and mother, who returned with him, accompanied by bis sister Lucretia, and brothers Abram and Charles. They all took up their abode in the cabin he had built the previous spring. They drove through with them a herd of 40 cattle, probably the largest number ever brougbt to the county up to that time. They, however, had much difficulty in keeping the cattle through that winter, a number of which strayed away and never were found. Thus began the Mer- cer settlement in Liberty. — C. W. E. OIL IN WOOD COUNTY Brief Summary of Its History Wood in the Very Center of Oil Production MANY of the residents of this por- tion of Ohio well remember the intense excitement twenty-live years ago in the eighties upon the discovery of oil in Wood county. Pen cannot describe the wild, feverish unrest and anxiety that prevailed among all citizens. In- vestors and speculators were attracted to the county by hundreds. It was the day of the gusher. While oil was struck in different counties in Northwestern Ohio, Wood county, in the heart of the Black Swamp proved to be the "King Bee" — the greatest oil producing county in the history of crude oil probably on the con- tinent at that time. No county equaled it then even in Pennsylvania. Oil was found in no less than sixteen townships, indicating that hundreds of feet beneath us was a vast lake of oil. In those days Bloom, Henry, Liberty, Portage and Jackson townships were re- garded as gusher territory, while remark- able producers were also found in Plain, Middleton, Montgomery, Freedom and Perry townships. Prices for land went skyward. Farms that previously could have been purchased for $10 to $25 and $50 an acre, could not be touched for less than hundreds of dollars per acre. One incident may suffice to show this. One farmer who had a tract of 50 acres, who would have gladly disposed of his farm at $50 an acre, declared he would not sell under $30,000 and he didn't care for that. This is not an isolated instance, but there were many of the same kind. Siich was the excitement at that time that it was difficult to secure land at any price. Values went to a high level throughout the county, al- though in the passage of years, there has been a decline from the high standard of that period, yet they are maintained to- day at a high level, when compared with prices before the oil period, and that bigb level is normal and will so continue. More than half of the oil producers in the Wood county field came from Penn- sylvania, experts in the business. They not only came themselves, but brought their household goods, their families, and all the property they had; they have set- tled in the* towns; they have become per- manent, residents and tax payers; they are helping build up the towns and are increasing the duplicates with refineries, their pipe lines and all of their property, which would not be there a moment if it were not for the oil development. They have added to the wealth of the state — it is difficult to say how much, but an ex-auditor of Wood claims that in this county alone these producers increase the value on the tax duplicate of more SCRAP-BOOK. 105 than five million dollars, more than that of any other property or interest in the county. There were in those early days many gushers. One developed at itammans- burg in December of 1886 will suffice as a sample of those spouters. William Carothers, an experienced driller, had the contract for sinking the well and the work was in charge of C. Ash. They drilled 400 feet through lime stone and 7 70 feet through slate. At this point they struck the Trenton rock, and said Mr. Ash, "we drilled in this awhile and had about given up getting anything. We were losing hope every minute and Monday afternoon, the 6th, at 5 o'clock, we were just 30 feet in the Trenton when we heard a noise in the well which began to till. We stopped the drill and were hardly out of the way when the oil spout- ed up over the derrick and 85 feet in the air. We quickly put the tire out under the boiler and withdrew from the field. The flow was so continuous that we were not able to get our tools out until Thurs- day. A representative of the Sentinel visit- ed the gusher when it had been flowing for four days at intervals averaging about 18 minutes, and he says it seemed sure- ly that if there was one there were 4,000 barrels of oil running on the ground. A wagon path in the woods was nearly a foot deep in oil, which run each way for many rods from the well. A half acre of land was covered with it, and a man walking a log made a misstep onto the ground and went over his boot top. The derrick and surrounding trees were drip- ping with the crude material and the men at work were covered with it. This was the first well of any import- ance drilled in the county, and in 188? four gushers were completed, yielding 1,200, I.S00, 1,500 and 800 barrels re- spectively. Two gushers in 1888 gave 3,000 and 1,250 barrels. Eight gushers in 1889 vielded 27,100 barrels. In 1890 one gusher gave 600 barrels. .Nearly a score of wells drilled in 1891 yielded 7,300 barrels. In 1892 twenty gushers yielded 36,600 barrels. In L893 there were recorded 22 gushers yielding 16,000 barrels. In 1894 four gushers yielded 3,300 barrels. Several gushers were re- corded in 1895 yielding 4,000 barrels. Other gushers were .recorded in the years 1896, 1897 and 1898, yielding an average of 500 barrels each. In 1901 a 1,200 barrel producer was drilled in Liberty township. These figures are taken from the oil reports as given in the newspapers at that time. Hundreds of other gushers too numerous to men- tion were completed throughout Wood county, making it one of the wealthiest counties in the state. Since then the oil industry has con- tinued to be a paying one. Here is what an old oil expert says with regard to the future of Wood county: "With the richest land, with inexhaustible soil, with a county agriculturally standing at the head, and add to it the natural gas advantages which is bound to bring man- ufacturing, and oil with the attendant business outgrowing therefrom — I say, with all these things taken into consider- ation, I know of no spot in America with a brighter future. Eeal estate in any event is bound to boom and good results follow from what has already taken place." The earliest tradition has it that at one time there was a continuous water route from the Lakes to the Mississippi, navigable for canoes with the exception of a "portage" about nine miles across at the head of the Maumee, and that this "portage" was owned or controlled by an Indian woman who exacted tribute for all goods that were transferred across 106 THE PIONEER EARLY SCHOOL DAYS The "Little Red School House" of the Past The Enjoyment of Spelling Matches MANY there are who may yet re- member something of the educa- tional facilities sixty or seventy years ago. Then they knew nothing of the grades in schools. The settlers were few in number, their wants were few and these were bountifully supplied. The benches were crude, seats had no backs, and yet there was little or no complaint, as they knew of nothing better in the way of conveniences. Pupils were com- pelled to trudge through brush and mud and cold from one to three miles or more. The average wage paid to the teacher then was $10 a month of 26 days, and three months was about the Limit of the contract. Included probably in the con- tract was that of "boarding 'round," as was the custom in those days. One of the customs of that time was to bar the school master out of the house, and keep him out until he yielded to the demands of the scholars to treat them to apples, candies, raisins, or such luxuries as could then be had. Gov. Foster in speaking of those early days, himself a teacher in that early day, says that James Pillars, who after- wards graced the bench for ten years, as the Common Pleas Judge of this judi- cial district, when a young man contract- ed to teach a school for ten dollars per month, of twenty-six days; one-half to be paid in cash, and the other half in provisions. In those days the great feature of our schools was the attention given to spell- ing. It is seriously doubted whether the schools of the present day can produce so much excellence in spelling as did those of that day. One-fourth of the time, probably, was devoted to spelling exercises, and in addition, at least one night of each week was devoted to what was known as spelling matches. These were attended by the besl spellers from the neighboring schools. The highest ambition of the pupil was to be the best speller in school. In an address on those early days, the late Gov. Foster says that he is per- fectly safe in saying that he attended spelling school three nights out of a week, during the three months of school for several years — visiting alternately three different school houses. He believ- ed that his sister, Emily, was the best speller of all, and she was under twelve years of age. The larger scholars used to carry her on their backs as they went to the different schools on foot, the only way of going to these meetings. The Governor relates this incident in his boy- hood school days. "1 remember of go- ing one night, to the Kiser school house, through the woods the most of the way, and alone, to attend a spelling match. I broke through the ice, and was wet up to my knees when I reached the place; yet 1 do not think I ever felt better re- paid for a day's work than I did over my success on that occasion, for I spelled down the entire school." Those good old days are only reminis- cences now in the dim and distant past. "Good "Id days" may be said deliberate- ly and seriously without exaggeration, for it is very doubtful if any of the pupils of the present day experience more delight and genuine pleasure in any equal number of days at the present time. At the meeting of the Commissioners, May 5, 1820, Attorney McCurdy present- ed an order of Court for $20, his com- pensation as prosecuting attorney of Wood county, for the May term of 1820. -t RAP-BOOK. HENRY DUBBS One of the Early Settlers of Liberty His Son Lewis Built a Tannery. With HENRY DUBBS was the first settler in the west part of Liberty town- ship. He came from Ashland county and entered the land upon which he built his home. He had one son Lewis, now de- ceased, and two daughters, Ann, who married Ebenezer Donaldson of Grand 107 Rapids, and Sarah, who married Daniel Barton of Milton township. Mr. Dubbs and his son Lewis, were tanners by trade and soon after their ar- rival, built a tannery on their lands, probably the first in the county, and did a large and successful business. Lewis Dubbs was Justice of the Peace in Liberty for 27 years. He was prom- inent in advancing the best interests of the early settlement and a leader in pub- lic improvements; educated, kind and generous, and his name is remembered with respect by those who know him. — ■ C. W. E. MAIL ROUTE Established in 1829 Between Perrysburg and Bellefontaine AS this northwestern part of Ohio began to be opened up a mail route was established on March 12, 1829, be- tween Perrysburg and Bellefontaine, and the first post office in the interior of Wood county was located where Portage now is, with Collister Haskins for post- master. Soon after this Haskins built a log store on the south bank of the Port- age river and stocked it with goods best adapted to his customers, a majority of whom were Indians and with whom he built up a large fur trade. Thus it will be seen that Haskins was not only the first resident of Liberty township, but also established the first store in Portage, and might be called the founder of the only village in Liberty township. This store was probably the third regular trading point started in Wood county, others being at Perrysburg and Grand Rapids. The first mail carrier on the route above mentioned was James Gordon who carried the mail on horseback, made one trip a week each way and usually arrived at Haskins at noon where he took his dinner.— G. W. E. INDIAN SKELETON Exhumed Over Thirty Years Ago Somewhat of a Mystery ThatiMay Never Be Solved IN the spring of 1879, a skeleton was exhumed five miles west of Bowling Green, by brick yard men, who were en- gaged in excavating sand for their yard on the top of a somewhat noted sand dune, on the north side of Keeler prairie, known to the early settlers by the Indian name of Shut-nok. In the Sentinel Mr. Evers says this skeleton is supposed to be the remains of an Indian, or some other human of giant stature. He had been buried with his head to the west. Between his legs sat a two gallon brass kettle in a good state of preservation excepting the bot- tom, which is partially gone. Inside this kettle set a small iron kettle which is nearly consumed by rust, except the bail. 108 THE PIOXEEB Near the side of the skeleton lay a rust- eaten tomahawk, scalping knife and a flint steel for lighting fire, also a stone smoke pipe. The bones, of which but few if any are missing, even to the toe and finger bones, arc in an excellent state of preservation and indicate by their size that they were once the mechanism of a powerful man. The skull on which still clings some frizzy substance like hair, is one which phrenologists would say indicated the Indian to have been no common fellow in his tribe. It is a well-shaped, large skull for an Indian, 1 hough the prominent cheek bones and low forehead are distinctly recognizable. The fellow had, in his day, an excellent set of teeth — small, sound and evenly set, though well worn and only two missing out of the two and thirty. One ami had. in his lifetime, been broken and the bone had knit together very clumsily, deforming the arm by a great bulge and erook. In the back of his skull is a small hole, but whether this hole had anything to do with his taking off, is an uncertainty. Mr. Avery says from the best informa- tion he can get from the old settlers, the grave has been there not less than 45 years, that is, no burial has taken place there since the neighborhood was settled. He also thinks that the grave was not less than four feet deep original- ly, something not usual in Indian burials. Avoided by Indians Sliut.-nok, on which this grave was found, is. or was before its surface was disturbed by the plow, the highest sand mound in Wood county. How it came to bear this name, none of the old set- tlers seem to know, though the belief has been current and has been handed down from generation to generation that it bore the name of a chief of one of the fragmentary tribes inhabiting the Maumee country after Anthony Wayne broke Their power in 1794. There are others who have been led to believe this spot was the burial place of a chief whose name it bore. But why a chief or any other influential man in his tribe should be buried -in this then lonely place when the burial ground was only a few miles away on the Maumee, we cannot understand. There is another story that comes to us more directly from an early chronicler, who was once connected with the Indian mission at the Station Island. He states that the Indians avoided the place under the superstitious belief that the Great Spirit had set its seal of displeasure — a curse upon the place for some sin com- mitted by his children, the secret of which was hidden beneath the grassy sur- face of the mound. An Indian Legend In this connection a story is circulated that the chief Tondoganie had a daugh- ter either his own or an adopted daugh- ter— a beautiful girl who was loved by a young Indian of the Shawanee tribe, and of noble birth, but whose tribe had dwindled down to only a fragment, so that he had lost his greatness in the eyes of the chief Tondoganie, who looked up- on him with disfavor. The young In- dian's love was reciprocated by the girl, and was a secret between them. Her lover's home was at Sandusky plains along with the great chief Black Hoof or Tarhe, but he often made visits to the Maumee ostensibly to fish, but for no other purpose than to see the dark eyed maiden. This secret love was de- tected by the quick perceptions of the chief, and with flashing eye and angry voice, he pointed the young man to the plains and told him to GO and never return. Both the lovers knew the penal- ty of disobeying. The girl secretly stole away and fol- lowed her lover in the direction of his home until they reached a high mound, the highest perhaps in the county, on the SCRAP-BOOK. 109 north side of what is now known ;is the Keeler Prairie, when she hade him fare- well, and watched his receding form un- til he passed from her sight forever. The heart broken girl returned to her father's wigwam, but fell into a despond- ent state of mind and could not be roused. She would be missed at times for days and nights together, and some of Tondoganie's runners reported to him that she was wont to stand on the high mound looking to the south chanting a mournful song. Finally she was missed and came back no more and a supersti- tion prevailed that in the darkness of night the figure of an Indian girl with her blanket about her shoulders, could be seen on the mound and that strange sounds as of some one singing a funeral dirge could be heard echoing in the grove below. The mound has ever since gone by the name of Shut-nok, said to be the name of the girl. The same authority for the above ac- count, stated that Tondoganie's anger was such because of the love of the girl against his wish, that he called upon some of the young men of his band to rid him of the cause. These young men stealthily dogged the movements of the girl until they discovered the place where she met her lover, whom they waylaid, murdered and buried in the mound, and on the final disappearance of the girl the chief forbid his tribe from visiting the place which only brought him memor- ies of remorse and sorrow. Such is one of the stories handed down from mouth to ear and which may have lost many details of what was a tragic romance, or it may, as is often the case, have gained much by repetition. A FIERCE BATTLE Fought in the Fall of 1812 on the Ground Which Perrysburg Now Occupies IT may not be generally known that the site of the present town of Perrys- burg was once the scene of a fierce battle between the Indians and Americans, but such is the fact. The news of the cowardly surrender of Gen. Hull at De- troit in August, 1812, spread like the wind throughout Ohio, and struck the frontier settlers with dismay. It aroused the people from their lethargy, and showed the government the necessity of greater activity and skill in the conduct of the war. In the fall of 1812, General Tupper, of Gallia county, raised 1,000 men, mainly from the counties of Gallia, Lawrence, Jackson, and marched to the foot of the rapids of the Maumee river. From Urbana they followed Hull's trail. As they approached the river the Indians appeared on the opposite bank. Tupper endeavored to cross the river in the night, but owing to the rapid current and the inexperience of his men, he failed and went into camp on the ground where Perrysburg now stands. The enemy soon after collected a superior force, and at- tacked him in his camp but after a short, sharp engagement, they were defeated with considerable loss and returned to Detroit. The Americans fell back on Fort McArthur. In 1701 Cadillac, with a Jesuit mis- sionary and 100 men, laid the founda- tion of Detroit, naming it. Ponchartrain. 110 THE PIONEER THE DREAD CHOLERA Dr. Kinnaman, First Practicing Physician in Perry Rude Tools for Surgical Operation IiN October, 1835, says a correspondent of the Sentinel in 1877, 0. Diver en- tered 80 acres one-half mile south of Mill Grove, this being undoubtedly the Last entry near Mill Grove. About this time the cholera made its appearance at Rome (now Fostoria) and Risdon in Seneca county, but few died. However, its advent sent terror to the hearts of the settlers in Terry, who with or without — Tor they were often without — quinine, could battle the "shakes" from July to late in September, and without a physician would successfully cope with the malarial fevers that followed. Cholera, however, the very word itself made the boldest quake. Dr. John Kinnaman a graduate of Philadelphia College was the first practicing physic- ian. He was a young man highly edu- cated and a lover of his profession. His coming was hailed with delight by the settlers. He located about two miles south of Mill Grove. A very large wal- nut stump served him for a laboratory, drug repository and general reception room. He laid out a town at this point and named it Royalton, but it died in its infancy shortly after the demise of its founder. Dr. Kinnaman's patients were scatter- ed over the entire southern part of the county, and his indefatigability in riding was wonderful and denoted a man of iron nerve. Many times in riding he would cut down a tree, hitch his horse to one of its branches and let him browse until his patient was out of danger, often from eight to ten hours. The following is an instance of this man's nerve and ability in his profession. Swane a settler of Perry was hurt by the falling of a tree. In a few days it was found necessary to amputate the leg. Dr. Kinnaman was sent for and arrived. Without any assistance and with no surgical implements but a razor and old saw, the Doctor amputated the limb neat- ly and speedily, and the man got well. Dr. Kinnaman died in '38 a victim of excessive attention to medical study and overwork. PASSED AWAY A Once Powerful Tribe That Enjoyed a Happy Life Close to Nature THE first settlers of Washington township, found here the remnants of a once powerful tribe of Indians. Their old men and warriors had listened to the counsels and obeyed the commands of their great Chief Tondoganie. Their wigwams were in the belt of timber which skirted the river; and the broad prairie which has become so fertile under skill- ful cultivation, afforded them hunting grounds and space for the young warrior to practice himself in imaginary battles to improve his skill in an art which fortunately, he has never since had an op- portunity to practice. The river and creek furnished them with fish, and on the flowery banks they passed a happy, indolent life. They were the remnants of a race which ac- cording to the laws of nature, had had its time on earth, and in obedience to that inexorable law, they were fast yield- ing to those who were to succeed them and here they lived to meet and see the mighty race of men who were to take their places. For ages they have lived SCRAP-BOOK. Ill on the bounties of nature without mak- ing her any return. They were a race governed by instinct; they made no advance in agriculture, commerce or the arts. The son made his canoe and armed himself with the bow and arrow as his father had done, as mechanically and with as little im- provemenl as the young robin builds its nest in imitation of the parent bird. Their time had come; their race was doomed; and here on the banks of this beautiful stream, where the dark eyed Indian maiden had taught the young chief to love her, a fairer maiden was to take her place and by the graces of a purer virtue, teach a noble heart to love her. A SUMMER OF GLOOM When Northern Ohio and Indiana Suffered The Cholera Scourge in Perrysburg In 1854 OLDER citizens will undoubtedly re- member the fatal summer of 1854. It was indeed a summer of sorrow and gloom. This was not only true of Northern Ohio, but of Northern Indiana as well. Not a village between Buffalo ami Chicago that did not furnish its quota of suffering and death from the malarial poison that impregnated the very atmosphere, spreading intermittent and typhoid fevers, as well as that dread- ed scourge, cholera. These afflictions became epidemic, and in some localities there were not enough persons well to take care of the sick. Take Goshen, Indiana, population 1,500 then. For two months there was a funeral daily, sometimes two or three. Not a family escaped affliction. Two cabinet sbops were busy night and day making coffins, and physicians had mighty little rest from their strenuous labors. Probably no town suffered like Perrys- burg. The scourge started, it seems from a ball thai was held on the night of the Itli of duly, when the first case of cholera made its appearance, and from that time until the 19th of August following there were 117 deaths — at least that is the number buried in Fort Meigs cemetery, and there may have been many more. Among that number are included Albert D. Wright, editor of the North- western Democrat, Dr. James Robertson, Dr. Frederick, Jarvis Spafford, John J. Spink, and many others. The deaths were startling in their suddenness and sadness. The epidemic was one of great virulence. So great were the ravages of this terrible visitation at that place, that it put a check upon business of every kind, no paper was issued and no other business transacted for seven weeks or longer, excepting that of caring for the sick and the burial of the dead. In- eluded among those who passed away were some of the most active business men of the place. Dr. E. D. Peck and Dr. James Robertson were on duty night and day, the latter falling a victim to the scourge in the very midst of his strenuous labors. Two-thirds of the res- idents fled from the town, leaving a comparative few to fight the dread epi- demic. Among those noble men and women, aside from the physicians may be mentioned Joshua Chappel, Seth Bruce, N. H. Callard, Mrs. A. E. Fred- erick and Mrs. Amelia Perrin, who were volunteer nurses during the terrible calamity. There may have been a few others, but we have not their names. All these have passed away, but they nobly performed their duty during their 112 THE PIONEEB life's span. Perrysburg was indeed **a deserted village/' Grand Rapids fared but little better, with a score or more of cases and a number of deaths, the disease beginning like Perrysburg at a llh of duly ball. Never perhaps in the history of the cholera were its ravages so fatal as in Perrysburg, and never did the few who remained meet death with more resolution or endure suffering with greater fortitude. Seth Bruce made coffins in the hall of the log court house and no victim was buried without a coffin being furnish- ed. Only one person of all that number died alone, a young man who had a room in a tenement house. He breathed his last before the return of his attendant, who had gone for medicine. The women were patient and heroic in their care for the sick, and there were brave, noble men who remained and stood beside them in the terrible conflict. The physical condition of the inhabi- tants, reduced by fever and ague, and their systems poisoned by well water rather than by miasmatic exhalations, left them an easy prey to the ravages of ihis sweeping epidemic. WOOD COUNTY FAIRS A Grand Feature of the County's Prosperity —Origin and History of These Exhibitions THEKE is no question of the fact that much of the superiority of the agricultural products of Wood coun- ty has been due to the stimulating in- fluences exerted by the Agricultural So- ciety. It has lifted the science of agri- culture to a higher plane. It has brought forth observation, comparison, thought and efforts on the part of the farmer as well as those interested in mechanics and arts. Each one learns something of value from a competitor, while it is apparent that there has been much of benefit from the results of com- bined effort. The following account of its early origin and history is taken from the premium list published in 1877 : Middleton township, at an early period in the history of the county, contained a number of intelligent and enterprising citizens. In these respects, it surpassed any other township in the county, and it was natural that the movement for the organization of a County Agricultural Society should originate there. On the 26th day of April, 1851, a meeting of the farmers and mechanics of the town- ship was held, at which David Creps presided and 11. H. Pain acted as Sec^ retary. The object of the movement was stated to be the promotion of the inter- ests of farmers and mechanics, and it was decided to call a mass meeting of the people of the county at Bowling Green, on the second Monday of June, 1851. In addition to the President and Se- cretary, the following citizens of Middle- ton township signed the call for the mass meeting, viz; David Whitney, Henry Sarvis, Henry Hood, James Mc- Ginness, Francis E. Meagley, Patrick Mcisaac, Robert Clark, Wm. Ewing, John Hood and Martin Byers. The call was subsequently signed by the following persons: E. Huntington, John Bates, John Brownsberger, David Ladd, ' J. Spafford, James Hood, Asher Cook, James Hall, John Groves, Joseph A. Creps, Gabriel Yount, Henry Crook, L. F. Pobertson, Amelius Eobertson, James W. Frazer, and John Taylor. On the 9th of June, the people con- vened at the Methodist Meeting House, S< KAP-BOOK. 113 in Bowling Green, when Emelius Wood was chosen chairman and Aslier Cook Secretary. J. K. Tracy, Henry Hood, Patrick Mclsaac, James Bloom and Geo. Powers, were appointed a committee to draft a constitution for the Wood County Agricultural Society. David Whitney, John Bates, X. L>. Blum and S. W. St. John were appointed a committee, to nominate officers for the following year. Thomas Jolly, L. C. Lock, and Henry Groves, were appointed a committee to "procure suitable persons to address the meeting and explain the objects of the contemplated organization.'' In the after- noon, in response to the request of the last named committee, the meeting was addressed by Messrs. Elliott, Cook and Bloom. The committee for that purpose reported a constitution, made up of 12 articles, which was adopted and signed by 56 persons, who became members of the society. Then a series of by-laws were adopted. The following persons were appointed a committee in each township to collect statistical information to be reported to the Secretary of the Society: Perrysburg — N. D. Blinn, Asher Cook and James Hood. Middleton — 1). Whitney, Henry Sarvis and Patrick Mclsaac. Washington — Martin Warner, Jr., John Bamber and Geo. Warner. Weston — B. Bassett, S. Jefferson and Benj. Olney. Liberty — James Bloom, Henry Groves and John C. Wooster. Plain— S. W. St. John, Nathan Min- ton and J. E. Tracy. Center — L. C. Lock, Lee Moore and Eenry Shively. Portage — Collister Haskins. Bloom — E. Gorton. This was an important work, but there is no evidence that any of the commit- tees were ever heard from in an official capacity. The following officers were chosen for the ensuing year: President, John McMahan; Vice-President, W. P. Peck; Pecording Secretary, E. Elliott; Corresponding Secretary, George Powers; Treasurer, John Bates; Managers, Benj. Olney, David Ladd, Edwin Gorton, Henry Hood and John Groves. Aside from the fact that a meeting was held on the 26th of July, 1851, to arrange for holding the first Fair, and also the fact that the Fair for 1852 is designated as the "second Fair," there is no recorded evidence that a Fair was held in 1851, nor is there any record of the place where it was held, though probably the first County Fair was held at Bowling Green. The foregoing facts respecting the or- ganization of the Society are quite com- plete, except the almost total omission of reference to the first Fair, in which the people of to-day would feel a lively interest. Subsequent Fairs were ignored by the Society's secretaries with equal care, and the points of real interest are thus largely omitted. The second Fair was held at Perrysburg, the third was held at Bowling Green, the fourth and fifth at Portageville, and the sixth and seventh at Bowling Green. At the seventh annual meeting of the Society, the board elected for the ensuing year was authorized to "procure suitable grounds for the Annual Fair and per- manently locate the same." At a meeting held in July, 1858, a vote was taken upon the permanent loca- tion of the Fair, when Bowling Green received five votes and Portageville two votes. The next Fair was held at Bowl- ing Green, but the permanent location of the Fair was not satisfactory to rival villages. Portageville inaugurated an in- dependent Fair, and in 1860 the County Society held their Fair at Perrysburg. Subsequently, perhaps in 1865 or 1866, the Society purchased grounds at Tontogany and permanently located the Fair at that point. This result grew out of the county seal contest and is 114 THE PIONEER understood to have been brought about by Perrysburg in the hope that it might result to the disadvantage of Bowling Green. The latter village naturally felt resentful and organized an Independent Society, but it proved a losing operation and was soon abandoned. Space will not permit further record of the Society's history here, but it may not be improper to mention the fact that the fairs of Wood county have compared favorably with any exhibitions of a simi- lar character in the state. With the richest of soil in the hands of intelligent and enterprising farmers, the products of Wood county have excited the pride of citizens of the county and command- ed the admiration of strangers. At state fairs, Wood county lias carried off tier full share of premiums, and seldom fails in a competition with other localities where she has a fair chance. Further Growth In addition to this piece of ancient history it may be said that this Society has grown and expanded with the years and its exhibitions hold their own in popularity and are visited by hundreds throughout the State. It stands in the van of all similar exhibitions in North- western Ohio. Within a few years past the needle work, art and educational exhibits have proven to be a strong feature and have attracted the interests of thousands of visitors. The erection of buildings and other equipment are added from year to year, and this expansion can not fail to give added interest to all classes of our people, and thus keep pace with the pro- gress and prosperity of all. Under the stimulus of the great and instructive ex- hibitions, such as have been given, new ideas are brought out, new sciences de- veloped and better and more profitable methods learned, and we will go on in the march of progress until we of to-day will be as far behind in comparison as that first Fair here years ago is behind to-day.— C. W. E. AN HISTORICAL CRISIS The importance of the victory at Ft. Meigs to the nation is thus summarized by a pioneer chronicler of the times: As a pivotal point in the war of 1812, no battle was of greater importance than the battle of Ft. Meigs. Had Gen. Har- rison been compelled to surrender, the battle of the Thames would never have been won. Perry's conflict on Lake Erie would never have been fought, the whole Northwest would have been in the hands of the British and Indians, and the frontiers along the whole continent would not have been safe for an hour against the attacks of the wily savages. Gen. Jackson might have been defeated at New Orleans, the British under Prevost and Eoss might have won at Ogdens- burg, or captured Baltimore. Gen. Brown and Gen. Scott might have lost Lundy's Lane, and still the defeats would have left the nation safe. But the cap- ture of Ft. Meigs by Gen. Proctor would have lighted the torch all over the North- west. It would have made the British masters of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Ill- inois and Kentucky. It would have en- abled the allies to push on to the foot of the Alleghanies and even the Eastern states would not have been proof against the attacks of Proctor and his savages. Fort Meigs is indeed historic ground. Hull's trace through Wood county was designated many years ago by the dis- covery of a large pile of gun barrels, locks, flints and bayonets near Portage. The discovery Avas made by a little girl in search of cows. At another time the entire iron work of an army wagon was found near the same place. SCRAP-BOOK. 115 THE MAUMEE PIONEERS Written by Mrs. Kate B. Sherwood for the Reunion of the Maumee Valley Pioneers, Held in Toledo, February 22, 1880, and Recited by Mrs. Elizabeth Mansfield Irving Come, friends, around this festal board, Where peace and plenty smile And memories in each bosom stored Are quickening the while; Come, let your hearts go hack again, With more of joy than tears, Unto that sturdy race of men, The Maumee Pioneers. Let others tell the tales of Dee, The Danube and the Don, The Ehine that ripples to the sea, The Iser rolling on; — New England's glades and palisades, Virginia's vaunted years, — We'll tell of sturdier men and maids, The Maumee Pioneers. We'll tell how came the brave La Salle, Two hundred years ago, To list St. Mary's madrigal, Responsive' to St. Joe; To speak the vows that woke the trance Of long unfruitful years, And give to Frontenac and France The Maumee Pioneers. Of Couthemanche whose lonely fort A century before, Stood guard where Fort Miami's port Heard British cannon roar; How stripped Perrot the faggot sees Flash through Miami's jeers, 'Till save the swift Outagamis, The Maumee Pioneers. I mind me in those bloody days Of Foxes, Sacs and Sioux, Of Miamis and Ottawas, And Iroquois and Pous, An Indian woman 'tis we see Before her Priest in tears; Her prayers have saved from massacre The Maumee Pioneers. Our feet are on historic ground. The very streets we tread Re-echo to a solemn sound Above the shroudless dead. Now French, now British we define, Now red ally appears, — They form a vast and shadowy line, The Maumee Pioneers. Here sleeps the braves of Pontiac, There Harmars hosts go down, And bold "Mad Anthony" brings back The knights of old renown; There Harrison's battalions glance Along the burnt frontiers, And in the trail of arms advance The Maumee Pioneers. Fort Meigs and Fort Miami show A sweet and solemn truce, And old Fort Industry I trow Has met a nobler use; So we above our levelled graves, Across the flood of years, May name with once dishonored braves The Maumee Pioneers. For valor's not of any race, And right of grace has none, If Wayne is given a hero's place, Tecumseh's fame is won; If Wells be praised for warlike deeds That wring the heart with tears, Then Simon Girty's fealty leads The Maumee Pioneers. The days of bow and spear are fled, Of tent and bark tepee, The ax is ringing in their stead, The woodman zones his tree; And where the Indian village stood The cabin chinked appears, And white-haired chi 1 dren scour the wood, — The Maumee Pioneers. 116 THE PIONEER They fight no barbed and painted foe, They run no gauntlet where The Indian tomahawk is slow A captured foe to spare; They fly no cruel massacre Of plundering buccaneers; But deadlier foes they stricken see, The Maumee Pioneers. The wind is up, the sails are spread, The gales of traffic blow; The Yankee comes with level head, The Teuton sure and slow; , The thrifty Scot, the Irish true, — And Quaker grace appears A wholesome leaven running through The Maumee Pioneers. They fought the famine and the cold. They conquered field and flood, They drove the murrain from the fold, The fever from the blood; Their triumphs blossom in the vales, And blush along the piers, And fleck the lake with snowy sails, The Maumee Pioneers. 0 free born sires ! from whom there runs A tide of valor through The hearts of sons' remotest sons ! 0 wives, and daughters true! — Who toil and spin, and spin and pray, And hiding homesick tears Keep heart and hope that crown to-day The Maumee Pioneers ! Blow soft above their lowly grave, 0 North wind swift and keen ! And South wind that the lily waves Keep aye their grasses green ! 0 Spirit of the Centuries ! Blow on his heart who hears, And wake to fragrant memories The Maumee Pioneers ! BUT THE SHOT MISSED On a clear, bright morning in the early spring of 1813, writes a pioneer chronicler, Gen. Harrison was standing on the earth works of Ft. Meigs. As he stood there his eye rested on scenes which have since become famous in the history of the state and nation. In the clear sunlight every foot of ground for miles around was visible. At his feet flowed the rapids and to the southward the river was lost behind the hills. For- ests stretched away in every direction. Through an opening among the trees an Indian chief and a companion were seen. A sentry fired and the parties disap- peared. Had the aim been more true and the arm of the sentry been more steady a vast amount of bloodshed and cruelty might have been averted, for that Indian chief was the notorious Tecum- seh, his companion — the hated Proctor. At one time during the siege of Fort Meigs the ammunition was nearly all gone, and Gen. Harrison offered a gill of whisky to any man who would bring in a cannon ball from outside the fort. The soldiers kept a score to see who would bring in the most, and in this manner cannon balls were obtained only to throw them over at the British batteries. MAUMEE RIVER AND VALLEY View Taken from British Point, Maumee City — Foot of the Rapids SCKAP-BOOK. 119 COL. SELDEN A. DAY This Young Officer of the U. S. Artillery Had Charge of Jefferson Davis at Fort Monroe COLONEL SELDEN ALLEN DAY and his talented wife, Helen H. Gardener, will be remembered by many cf the citizens of Bowling Green, as they visited Wood county several years since, when the accomplished lady gave a lec- ture. As writer, author and speaker, she is widely known on account of the many books she has published of a semi-medical nature along the line of heredity. They are written in such form and language as to make them understood and appre- ciated by the general reader. Her suc- cess is demonstrated by the fact that the products of her pen, put out partly as fiction, occupy the reference shelves of Cornell university and other scientific libraries of national reputation. All this has required much earnest study on the part of this earnest writer, to whose work is attached more than a literary value. No less interest attaches to Colonel Day than to his talented wife and he is known from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific seaboard, where he commanded Fort Mason, San Francisco, for four years. His military career began in 1861, when he raised a volunteer company at the first call for troops, serving continuously in the field until the close of the war and was finally made captain for "gallant and meritorious service during the war." Colonel Day's record in the war with Spain was also notably brilliant. He commanded the first troops that entered Porto Rico and on July 28, 1898, ran up the American flag on the custom house, the first American flag raised over the island possessions. In addition to his career as a soldier, Colonel Day is the successful inventor of a series of military and scientific appliances. Mr. Day chanced to be the first officer of the prison guard at Fort Monroe, when Jefferson Davis was brought there a prisoner after the close of the war. Notwithstanding the account of Ben Per- ley Poore of the distinguished prisoner being put in irons, the experience of Col. Day, while he was in charge of Mr. Davis, shows that the prisoner was of a most tractable and gentlemanly disposi- tion. Here are extracts from a letter written by Colonel Day in February, 1890, from Fort Schuyler, New York: Day's Letter An article in a New York paper head- ed "Grateful to his Guard," alludes to kindness on my part to the distinguished prisoner, the late Jefferson Davis, while he was confined at Fort Monroe. While I did my duty as best I could I disclaim now, as I did then, the idea of kindness in doing what any man ought to have done for another whom the fortunes of war had placed in his keeping. The kindness in the case was rather the other way. Although I had seen four years of solid war, I was still a youngster in the service, while his experience includ- ed the entire range of promotion from West Point cadet to Secretary of War, and extended from the fall of Richmond hack to and through the war with Mexico. It so happened that I was the first officer of the prison guard, detailed from the regulars when we came to Fort Monroe after the close of the war, and of course I took charge of the State prisoners, Messrs. Davis and Clay. This was after their removal from the case- mates to Carroll Hall. Mr. Davis' room, or cell, was on the second floor, and ad- joining it was a room occupied by the officer of the guard. Though many a time during the early part of the late war I had, as a young 120 THE PIONEER volunteer, trudging along on the march under the weight of knapsack and gun, joined in the chorus: "We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree," yet, when brought face to face and introduced to him by the officer, whom I relieved as his custodian, I need hardly say I recog- nized a gentleman and treated him ac- cordingly. This was the sum total of my kindness to him. No one could have been more particular or careful that the orders governing the prison should be carried out than was the prisoner him- self. One little incident may serve to show how delicately the prisoner had to be dealt with. His cell was scantily fur- nished with only an iron single bedstead, a hospital mattress, a small table or stand, bucket, bowl and pitcher, and two straight-backed, bard wooden kitchen chairs — one for the prisoner and the other for any visitor he might have; and the visitors were few and far between. We, officers of the guard, used to have our easy rocking chairs brought from our quarters (nine were in the same building) to sit in during our hours of duly, sending them hack when relieved. One day I offered to exchange my, easy chair for one of his for the time being. "No!" said he, "these are the ones fur- nished by the authorities for my use, and it might not be right to exchange them." "Oh.*" said I. "if need be I will speak to the General about it, and 1 have no doubt it will be all right." "No," he said, "don't do it on any ac- count/5 and I knew he meant it. Still, I did not fee] quite easy in my rocking chair, seeing him sitting bolt upright. reading day after day on his hard seat. One evening as I was about leaving, my colored servant had not come up, as was usual, to take away my things, so gather- ing up my books and papers, and with both hands full, I said, "Mr. Davis, John has not come for my things, won't you be kind enough to take charge of my chair until I send for it." "Cer- tainly," said he, and emptying one of my hands into the other, I dragged it into his room, came out, closed the door and bade him "good evening," just as my relief entered the outer room. The next night when I came on guard again, the prisoner was standing at the grating looking out, pipe in hand, and said after greeting, "I have your chair here." "Oh, yes!" said I, looking over my shoulder into my room, "but I see John has brought up another, just keep it, won't you, until I want it." Mr. Davis made no reply, but he gave me a look that will remain in my mem- ory, as a ray of sunshine. He had seen through my little ruse. After Mr. Davis was given the parole of the fort, all was changed for him, as well as for us of the garrison. We offi- cers then got more than "one night in bed," as the soldiers say. and the duty was not so hard. Mrs, Davis joined her husband and they were assigned a set of officers' quarters, which by the way, included his old "prison cell." and they lived like "white folk." With Mrs. Davis came their little daughter ("Pi" we called her then), now "Miss Winnie," or the "Daugh- ter of the Confederacy," as she is some- times spoken of. With them also for a time was Mrs. Davis' sister, Miss Mag- gie Howell, all of whom made a sunny addition to the social life of the garrison in a quiet and becoming way, and they changed the atmosphere for Mr. Davis in many respects. I could fill a volume of reminiscences and incidents connected with our invol- untary intimacy during Mr. Davis' im- prisonment, at Fort Monroe, but I will mention only one more in closing this letter. Mr. Davis had a grim sense of the humorous under all circumstances. On one occasion Doctor Craven, who had been the post surgeon and attended Mr. SCRAP-BOOK. 121 Davis during his severe illness in the casemates, came back to Fort Monroe on a visit, and called upon the prisoner in his cell. In the course of conversa- tion the doctor said, "Do you know, Mr. Davis, that at one time, over there in the casemate, I really thought you were go- ing to die?" "Ah, doctor," said Mr. Davis, "that is the last thing: I am going: to do." UNCLE" GUY NEARING A Remarkable Man -His Athletic Build and Strength — Interesting Incidents in His Life 1A the Sentinel of December 20, 1883, Mr. Evers gave an extended account of "'Uncle" Guy Nearing, as he was called by the early settlers, and "Nawash" by the Indians, from which we clip the following: Guy Nearing in his early manhood came to the Maumee country from Cayuga county, X. Y. The date was about the year 1817, and he first located on what is now the Forest Pratt place, Perrysburg. Nearing was a remarkable man in many respects, and is better re- membered and of tencr and more kindly spoken of by the early settlers than any one who lived on the Maumee. In physical make up lie was a man of almost gigantic stature and strength; broad shouldered and bony; he scarcely knew his own strength, and his power of endurance was something wonderful. He was a sort of local Hercules of that day. and a terror to the Indians, great and small. His qualities of head and heart were no less marked than his phy- sical powers. He inherently loved and trusted his fellow men. He had great big bumps of generosity, and benevo- lence. He always had a cheering word for the despondent and friendless, and would divide bis last piece of corn bread witb the needy. It is not denied by bis many friends that he possessed a "rough side," and was given sometimes to fearful ebullitions of temper, and startling profanity, nor that he was averse occasionally to having a good time, when, more than at any other time he prided himself on his ath- letic powers, and feats of great strength. At a Circus One day he was in Perrysburg after it had become quite a village, attending a circus, an event he never missed if he hea I'd of it in time. He was leaning against the cage in which was a large zebra and the keeper cautioned the spec- tators lest the animal which was vicious, should kick some of them. In an instant Uncle Guy thrust his hand into the cage and seized the zebra's hind leg which he p tilled out between ttie bars and held with one hand in spite of the animal's wild struggles. Guy would have done the same with a young lion only that the keeper prevented him. Cut His Toe Off Though rather slow to anger he was like most of that kind of persons very wrathy when he did get warmed up. It is told of him that the little toe on one of his feet had a habit of getting on top of the next toe and the friction of the boot kept it constantly sore. In a fit of anger one day he jerked off his boot, seized a chisel and mallet and off went the offending tor. to trouble him no more. Always Kind to All Still with all his eccentricities and faults, he was. as before mentioned, a 122 THE PIONEER kind-hearted sympathetic man. If a stranger moving in, needed help to get his wagon out of the mud, Guy would take his team and assist him without pay or thanks. If a newcomer wanted to find land for a home, Guy would leave his own affairs and go with him, board him besides, accepting no compensation, es- pecially from the poor. If the pioneer needed help to raise his log cabin, Guy would take his men and go and help him. Anything he had or could do was always at the command of a needy neighbor or stranger. Such a man was "Uncle" Guy Nearing. He was fitted by all his phy- sical and mental qualities for a leading and useful man amid the rugged vicissi- tudes incident to pioneer life, and well hr filled the bill. Two years after Fearing came, his family followed, wife and three children. There were two sons and a daughter. Minerva afterward married Win. Ewing. Neptune Nearing, one of the sons, father of G. C. Nearing, now of Bowling Green, settled at an early day on the ridge and prairie three miles west of Bowling Green, or where the town now is. Another son, Henry, who is well known and respected in the north part of the county, and who in stature and appear- ance, much resembles his father, lives now near White House, Lucas county. Thrashed an Indian Here is an incident by Henry Nearing, explaining why his father, "Uncle" Guy, was called "Big Nawash." Nearing's cabin was on the route fol- lowed by the Indians in passing up and down the river. The red men, while un- usually quite peaceful, got fire water down at Hollister's trading post some- times and some of the bucks were a trifle ugly. A big buck of some prowess and athletic pretensions who frequently, when tipsy, would boast of blood-thirsty deeds he had perpetrated on white men at the massacre at River Raisin, one day entered Nearing's cabin where he saw no one in the room but a couple of women, and drew his hunting knife and began to talk Indian and make murderous flourishes. The women were terrified, as the old buck had a satanic gleam in his eye which was threatening to behold. They con- cealed their terror as well as they could until one of them on some pretext slipped out and told "Uncle" Guy, who was mak- ing an ax handle in a shed near by. Guy was angry in a minute, and seizing a big black whip, he went round to the door and pulled the buck out, and between the sounds of the terrific blows of the whip on old Nawash's breech clout and his hideous screams, there was a small bedlam there for a little while. An ac- count of the incident soon went up and down the river and reached the other In- dians. This buck was a sort of revenge- ful fellow and some of Guy's neighbors did not know but he might try to retal- iate, but he was too much humilated, and in a day or so came back and shook hands with Uncle Guy and said, "Me bad Injun ! me good now." Pointing to Nearing he said "You big Nawash." After that Nearing was nicknamed "Big Nawash," and quarrelsome Indian buck's never troubled his family again. Contractor and Builder In the latter part of 1825 Nearing took a contract to build five miles of the Maumee and Western Reserve pike, which he did not complete till 1827, and at about the same time he took five miles of the Maumee and Monroe pike. In 1823 when the county seat was moved from Maumee to Perrysburg, there was not much to move except the little log calaboose. This, Nearing hauled over for which, and the rebuild- ing, he received $45. In 1824 he helped to build for Wood county its first court house, a little log structure located on Front street, Perrys- burg, but torn down some years ago. In SCRAP-BOOK. 123 1826 and '27, he aud Elisha Martindale built a new log jail near the court house and took their pay in part, in town lots at $12 apiece. On Christmas day 1829, Uncle Guy with his men and teams, went to Bear Rapids, since called Otsego, and built a cabin on the hill, to board and lodge his help in. He had previously bought GO acres of land there, of the Mason estate. Stickney had also built a cabin near there, to prospect for free stone, and expected to open a grind stone quarry. Built a Mill By New Near's day, 1830, all was in readiness, and next day all hands began work on timber for a dam. The winter was mild and dry, and the river low. By May Xearing had a dam in, and a saw mill in operation, and by the middle of June a grist mill with one run of stone, and by September a second run of stone with bolting facilities. This was a great help and convenience to the pioneers, and people patronized the mill from a distance of 20 to 30 miles, bearing owned the mill until the spring of 1833, when he sold it to a New Yorker named Asa Gilbert, and the mill went by the name of Gilbert's mill. Later Gilbert sold to a man named Flanders, who lost the mill by a great freshet. Flanders re- built it and a little later the mill passed into the hands of Samuel Clymer, who owned it until the freshets finally de- stroyed both mill and dam and it was never rebuilt. The ' old mill, the build- ers, and owners have all passed away and the town of Otsego, a name once familiar to all the early settlers, is a thing of the past and exists like many of the noble race of hardy men and women of that early day only in memory. WORST OF ALL ROADS" Graphic Description of the Maumee and Western Reserve Road AGREEABLE to the treaty of Browns- town in 1808, the Indian tribes ceded a tract of land for a road 120 feet wide from the foot of the Maumee Rapids to the western line of the Con- necticut Reserve, and all the land within one mile of said road on each side thereof for the purpose of establishing settle- ments along the same. By an act of Congress December 11, 1811, the Presi- dent was authorized to appoint three commissioners to survey and mark the road. It seems this work was not satis- factory. Hence Congress passed an act on April 16, 1816, authorizing the Presi- dent to make such alteration in the survey as he may deem proper. Nothing, however, seemed to have been done, for February 28, 1823, Con- gress passed an act granting to the State of Ohio all the land for this purpose ob- tained by the treaty of Brownstown. By an act of the Legislature, the State of Ohio accepted the grant made to her by the last recited act of Congress, and at once set about building the road. In locating this road it was so laid out as to pass through Perrysburg and Lower Sandusky. The contracts were let and work commenced in the year 1824, but the road was not completed until the year 1826, if, indeed, such a road could be called completed, but such as it was, it was accepted and for years served as the thoroughfare over which the 124 THE PIONEER thousands in search of ;i paradise in the West, were obliged 1<> travel the almost impassable Black Swamp. It would be difficult to describe this worst of all roads, and the agony border- ing on despair to which the emigrant was reduced in Ids effort to pass over to the land Sowing with milk and honey beyond. It is said nature is equal to all emer- gencies, and it proved so here. On the desert the caravan may stop at any point and pitch their tents, but travelers wad- ing all day in mud and water, require a place of rest for the night, where they can dry as well as rest their weary limbs. On the route of this road, their wants in this respect were well supplied, for there was a tavern to each mile of the distance between Perrysburg and Lower Sandusky, and travelers were sometimes compelled to stay two nights at the same tavern, notwithstanding the most vigor- ous ell'orts to proceed. Things remained in this situation until the year 1838 when the state commenced to macadamize the road, which was completed in the year 1841, and from that time to the present has been one of the best roads in Ohio. From this period the real prosperity of Wood county began, and was materially aided by the completion of the Wabash and Eric Canal a few years later. LAKE COMMERCE An Extensive Commercial Traffic Carried on at Perrysburg at an Early Date BETWEEN the years 1828 and 1810 there was transacted at Perrysburg as large a commercial business as any port on Lake Erie, excepting Buffalo and Cleveland. This business was trans- acted chiefly through the forwarding and commission houses of Hollister & Smith, and Bingham & Co. Through i he>c houses nearly all the goods con- signed to Northern Indiana, and a large portion of Northwestern Ohio, and South- ern Michigan were forwarded by teams from Perrysburg, to the head of the rapids of the Maumee river, where they were taken on keel boats, pirogues and flat boats, and transported to Fort Wayne, and thence distributed to their several destinations. These boats returning brought hack furs, skins and dried meats, which were brought to Perrysburg by the teams which had carried goods to the head of the rapids. From 1835 to 1840, this business, together with the emigration which came to this port by water, afford- ed a very lucrative business for nearly all the schooners and steamboats in the service. There were between the above dates steam boats enough running from Perrys- burg to Buffalo, to form a daily line had they been so arranged, besides many schooners, as the steamers could not carry all the freight offering for this port. In addition to the above, there was a daily line of steam boats running between Perrysburg and Detroit. It may be asked, what has become of this commerce? The answer is, it still exists, but the headquarters have been removed, and other modes of transit have driven the steam boats and vessels from the river. The last siege of Ft, Meigs lasted about eight days and was most obstinately re- sisted by Gen. (day. The siege was finally abandoned by Gen. Proctor after 'i00 men and officers had been killed and wounded. No less than six wagon loads of balls and un exploded shells were picked up and utilized by the Americans. SCRAP-BOOK. 125 AN AMUSING INCIDENT John C. Spink's First Introduction to This Region- His "Maiden" Speech THE late N. 11. Callard furnishes the following incident of an early date : Among the earliest lawyers residing in Wood county may be named John C. Spink and Willard V. Way. The latter mentions in his notes a ludicrous in- cident that occurred to Spink when on his way from Wooster to Perrysburg to commence the practice of law. As show- ing the condition of travel through the Black Swamp, and its inconveniences of transit it is worthy of note. It was on this occasion that he made his first or maiden speech as a lawyer. Spink was on his way in company with a young preacher, who like himself, had left his home for the first time. He stated that the roads were simply terrible, being like a sea of mud and water. At that time many immigrants were moving from the eastern parts of Ohio to places further west. It was frequently the case that they could not advance with their wagons more than two or three miles a day, and they would return at night to the same tavern they had left in the morning. Spink and the preacher had left what is now Fremont in the morning and reached a small log tavern at Sugar Creek a few miles west late in the evening. They found the house crowded with moving families, with apparently no room for them to find a bed. At that time there were only two beds in the house. They could not well return neither could they advance with the chance of getting better accommodation, as they would have to flounder in the mud. The landlord, however, was equal to the emergency. He did not want to lose two guests so prominent as the lawyer and the preacher and assured them that he would give them a good bed. They took their sup- per and on getting into the sitting room found that the movers had all disappear- ed. How this had been done they could not tell. That, however, was soon re- vealed. They were shown to the only spare bed in the house which was Located on the off side from the door, and they discovered there were ten females and four males extended on the floor covered by their own bed clothes, he and the preacher making the number sixteen in what was but a small room. They picked their way through the sleepers as best they could, when getting to the bed side they found just Light enough from the burning wood in the fire place op- posite them as to show everything in the room. It appeared to them as if all eyes were upon them, and they were at a loss to know how they could get into bed. The preacher suggested to Spink that he would take off his coat and that he Spink should hold it as a screen between them and the floor occupants. That was speedily done, the preacher jumped into bed on the off side and covered himself up, and left Spink in the lurch. This took him by surprise — he was at a loss what to do. He could not go to bed with his clothes on him as they were wet and covered with mud. He concluded that as a lawyer he should have to make his living by his wits, and he might as well begin then and there as at any time, and make a speech, yes, a maiden speech, supposing that they were as wide awake as himself. His speech was brief and to the point, he said: "Ladies, this is my bed, and there is nothing to screen me from your obser- vation while I get into it. This is my first introduction to a new country life, and probably it is yours, as you appear to be moving, I will therefore take it as a great favor if you will kindly dink your heads under the clothes while I gel into bed." All heads were instantly covered, he got into bed and concluded 12 G THE PIONEER that he had made a great fool of himself, for they were all of them asleep, and he had waked them up by his speech. This he ever after declared to be his maiden speech as a lawyer. Mr. Spink was highly successful as a criminal lawyer, his reputation extend- ing throughout the northwest. The late James Murray of Sidney, Ex- Attorney General of Ohio, was a student at law with him. Spink died in 1853, in the zenith of his fame. RECOVERING A STOLEN HORSE THE following incident is related by Gen. John E. Hunt : In July, 1812, my brother bought a very tine horse, which had been driven with the army from Dayton. It was a large, elegant dapple grey, and he rode it acting as the aid of Gen. Hull at the sur- render. Soon after the British took the town the Indians stole the horse, saddle and bridle from my brother's stable. He went to the store next morning looking very much down at the loss of his fine horse. There he met Jack Brandy. Jake says. •'Harry Hunt, what's the mat- ter with you ? You have a very long face this morning." Says my brother: "Jack, the Indians have stolen my big horse !" Jack says : "Dam rascal ! Maybe me find him. Give me some money, some meat and some bread." My brother gave him $5 in silver and what else he wanted. Jack mounted his pony and started up the River Rouge. The next day he crossed an Indian trail, and discovered that one of their horses had large iron shoes. He followed the track and that evening camped with the party. After eating, they wanted to know where he was going. He said he was directed to go to Chicago to call the Indians in to fight the Long Knives. They told him they had a very fine Ameri- can horse. Jack says, "My horse is tired. If he is a good horse maybe in the morn- ing me swap with you," and added, shak- ing his silver in his pouch, "and give some boot." In the morning, after an" early breakfast, Jack told them to put the saddle and bridle on the horse. "Well me try him, see if he is a good horse." He mounted, and it was the last they saw of Jack or the horse. We were standing in front of my brother's store about sun- down the next day, when we saw an Indian coming up the road on horseback. It proved to be Jack on my brother's grey horse. When he jumped off and delivered him to my brother, he said, "Harry Hunt, you see now, Jack Brandy can't lie." LIBERTY TOWNSHIP Settlement Begun in 1824 -Collister Haskins First Settler Organization of Township THE first white settler in what is now Liberty township was Collister Has- kins, in the spring of 1824. In the fol- lowing September, with the help of kind Indians and friends from Watcrville, he built a log cabin on the west side of the established route of the Findlay pike and on the south bank of the Portage river, and moved in with his family, who had resided in Waterville. Let the mind of the reader imagine Wood county one vast unbroken forest of virgin timber, withoui a white inhabitant (exeepl as their cabins now and then dot- ted the hank of the Maumee river), the stillness of which was only marred by the presence of the red man who built his SCRAP-BOOK. i-j; camp fire unmolested, and where the wolf, deer, hear and other animals roamed in their natural stale; a wilderness impene- trated by a single well defined road; a wilderness containing 390,000 acres, in the center of which is one solitary cabin, with none other nearer on the north than Waterville, thirteen miles distant, and none on the south nearer than Fort Find- lay, "twenty miles away," and they have the home of Collister Haskins in 1824. And oft' was the time of an evening, when this solitary white man of the in- to rior, with his little family, would be gathered about his cabin fire that the Indians would congregate about him and curiously survey his surroundings and as they became more familiar, converse as best they could upon topics of mutual interest. In Mr. Haskins' family besides himself and wife, were three d tughters, Sarah, Wealthy and Cynthia, and one son, Henry. Sarah was the first white child born in Liberty township. The next settler, or rather squatter, in Liberty was J. M. Jacques, who came from New York and built a cabin. Jacques only remained about three years, for in the spring of 1833 John Sargent moved in from Ross county and entered the land upon which Jacques had located, paid him for his improvements and moved into the cabin he (Jacques) had built. In Mr. Sargent's family were three sons and two daughters. The Mercers The next settler in Liberty was Geo. Mercer, the first of the large Mercer set- tlement in that township, to locate there, who came from New Lisbon, also in the spring of 1833, and entered the land upon which he made his home. He came with two yoke of oxen and a wagon by the way of Woodville, making the trip of 200 miles from New Lisbon in 11 days. From Woodville he came up the Portage river on a road cut. through a few days previous by Adam Phillips, who settled in Portage township, and the next day cut a road from there to Mr. Haskins', making the trip from Woodville in two days. His family stayed at Mr. Haskins' and he im- mediately set to work with the assistance of Peter Johnson and Adam Phillips of Portage township, and Mr. Haskins, and soon had a pole cabin built on his own land and moved in with his family. The same spring he '"broke up" 15 acres of prairie land belonging to Mr. Haskins and planted it to corn; using five stout yoke of oxen and a big old-fashioned wooden plow to break up the prairie and says he raised about half a crop. He raised a family of nine children. The advent of new settlers into this community was now not so infrequent and on the first day of April, 1834, there were eight families in Liberty, as follows : Collister Haskins, John Sargent, Thos. Cox, Geo. Mercer, Caleb Mercer, Horace Cady, Henry Groves, John Groves and James Birdsell, and late in the same year came Henry Dubbs, John McMahan, Joseph Mitchell, Wm. Mercer and John Mercer. Wm. Mercer was the head and father of the Mercer family, which settle- ment in Liberty numbers nearly 200. Liberty Township Organized A sufficient number of settlers having moved in, a petition was presented to the commissioners on March 20, 1835, for the organization of a township, to be called Liberty. The petition was granted and the first township election held on the first Monday in April, 1835, which re- sulted in the election of the following officers: Trustees, James Birdsell, Henry Groves and Geo. Ellsworth; clerk. Reuben Strait; treasurer, Hugh Arbuckle; jus- tices of the peace, James Birdsell and John Groves. The poll books of this election contains the names of 22 elec- tors. Their choice for treasurer proved to be an injudicious one. He was a native of Scotland, a fine scholar and apparently a 128 THE PIONEER gentleman. He was in the stock business in company with a Messrs Reed & Bishop of Urbana. During the year he was serving the township as treasurer, he sold a quantity of the partnership stock, pock- eted the money and "migrated." At the time he left he also took $28.00 of the township funds, fortunately all there was in the treasury at that time. Mr. John McMahan and Henry Dubbs were his bondsmen and jointly made up the same to the township, but not without some pointed remarks about the defaulter. John Sargent was elected his successor the spring following and held the office for twenty years. — C. W. E. ORGANIZATION OF OHIO PURSUANT to a proclamation of the Territorial Governor, members of a constitutional convention assembled at Chiilicothe, November 1, 1802, and dur- ing this session of 29 days formed the first constitution of the state of Ohio as the state was named. The state government was organized under the constitution so formed on March 3, 1803. The Bill of Rights, which is a part of the constitution, includes, among other things, substantially the provisions of the ordinance of 1787; but to two provisions of this Bill of Rights particular attention is called, viz, to sections 25 and 26. The first, section 25 provides, "That no law shall be passed to prevent the poor, in the several counties and townships within the state, from an equal participation in the schools, academies, colleges and uni- versities within this state, which are en- dowed, in whole or in part from the revenue arising from donations made by the United States, for the support of schools and colleges; and the doors of the said schools, academies and universities shall be open for the reception of scholars, students and teachers of every grade, without any distinction or preference whatever, contrary to the intent for which said donations were made." The second, section 26, provides, "That laws shall be passed by the legislature which shall secure to each and every de- nomination of religious societies, in each surveyed township, which is now or may hereafter be formed in the state, an equal participation, according to their number of adherents, of the profits arising from the land granted by congress for the sup- port of religion, agreeable to the ordin- ance or act of congress making the appro- priation." It will thus be seen these are the fundamental principles on which the northwest territory, and the state of Ohio have been established. AS TO HULL'S TRACE IN a recent number of the Sentinel, a pioneer makes the following correc- tion regarding Hull's trace : Hull's trace in Portage after crossing the stream, turned its course west of north, passing through the village of Por- tage near the old ashery, M. E. church and Quaintanccs' lime kiln, passing north on the limestone ridge, crossing the east part of the farm owned by Noah Foltz, also the premises of Jas. Taborn (de- ceased), which was the original Parshall lot. Parshall had a large family, all girls. These young women and their parents had been living in their log cabin near the northwest corner of Portage township. One day, while Sarah was taking a stroll east of their cabin, she walked out on a fallen tree in the top of which she found a load of muskets. The news soon spread SCRAP-BOOK. 129 that "Sail" Parshall had found 40 mus- kets. (Quite a prize, over $200 worth if they had not been damaged.) Hull's trail here crossed through the point of timber between the Little Prairie and another that lay in the southwest corner of Center township, passing close to the west of the original John Taborn cabin across the original Thomas Rigly lot, and so on towards the Pernot farm. The loss of the army trail near the llaskins saw mill, and the mistake made by S. B. Abbott and others, was the mistaking our pioneer trail down stream past the "Aborginal Grave Yard" for Hull's trace. The same is true of the pioneer trail or road made by John Gallatin and others across the east end of the Sizer farm, a branch pioneer road into that of Hull's army road. THE LOST CHILD An Agonizing Search by Hundreds for a Little Tot Alone in the Woods for Eleven Days AN old pioneer gives, in the Weston Avalanche, the following some- what sensational account of the search for a lost child in the wilds of Wood county, seventy-five years ago: The child was that of Frederick Frank- fauder, who lived in Bloom township, in this county. In the year 1835, some time in the month of November of that year, on Sunday (as was their custom), Mr. Frankfauder and wife went to their place of worship, and did not return home until late in the evening. During their absence the children were gathering hickory. nuts, under a tree standing in the fence corner close by the woods. There were a number of children on both sides of the fence, and the little girl, five years and six months old, was with them gath- ering nuts, and probably on the side^ of the fence next to the woods. The chil- dren did not miss her until the parents came home at night. You can imagine the feelings of that family when they found thai little Margarel was truly lost, night on hand and very dark. They sent to the nearest neighbors for help in the hunt. They started with torches in hand and calling her by name, and ring- ing bells, but all without success. Then they sent word to Ft. Ball, Tiffin, Findlay and Perrysburg, to the search. They came with their teams, feed and provisions, to assist. The company so engaged, numbered about two hundred and fifty persons. About the third day they found tracks north of Woodbury, crossing Hull's trail, that they knew to be her tracks certainly, as a little dog was with her, and they saw his tracks also. Then the excitement grew intense; they continued the search west and north of the windfall, and bordering on the prairie, but found no sign of her, till the seventh day, when they found tracks in the windfall south of John McMahan's. There she lost her little dog, she after- wards said, "as I lay by a fire I saw a big dog come and they took Penny and killed him." They were wolves. Then all began to despair but the parents. Some left for home while others con- tinued the search. Reader, pause and think! How must the parents have felt, when all began to despair; when a fruitless search was kept up for eight or ten days, when all gave up in despair, hut a praying father, who said that his trust was in the Lord; that He would restore the child to his arms in answer to his unceasing prayers. What 130 THE PIOJSTEEK hope was there? The child gone ten days, in a wilderness like the Black Swamp forty years ago, plenty of In- dians, bears, and wolves; and the worst of all. the wild hog. On the eleventh day they sent a man around by Portage, up the Ellsworth ridge, then to tLutchinson's in Milton, and to Major MeMillen's. Just before lie arrived, Orlando McMillen and Sam- uel Clark go! home from hunting cattle, and McMillen asked his mother if Indian children had blue eyes; she said, "ISTo, why do you ask?*' lie said that he and Mr. Clark had seen one that had blue eyes, and they gave it a biscuit, and it ate it greedily. The\ thought it an Indian child, as they could not under- hand her language. I will just say she was German, and did not understand English, This report of the lost child explained the whole matter to them. Mr. G. Alberty and Mr. McMillen started at once in pursuit of the child, over to John Dubbs'. There they saw a man by the name of Henderson Can-others, who was chopping in a clearing lor Dubbs; he said that he saw a child playing on a log, on the north side of the clearing, an hour or so ago. Inn thought that it was an Indian child. So they all went to look after the child and in a few minutes they found her in the woods on the north side of the clearing, and they soon saw that she was the long lost child, as she had deep blue eyes. You can imagine the joy ami rejoicing when they found her; they took her to Mr. Dubbs' and sent word at once to her bereaved parents, who got word in the fore part of the night. You can't imagine how the parents and friends passed that night, as there was joy mixed with doubt. Before daylight Mr. Mahlon Whitaker and Mr. Frankfauder were plunging through the woods to Mr. Dubbs'. They made the distance in double quick time, and found the child all right, but quite wild and strange. The little one had wandered 14 miles for 11 days amid the terrors of the Black Swamp. That child lived to be a woman, was married and passed away some years ago. JIM SLATER'S CURSE Is There an Avenging Nemesis Hanging Over Bairdstown on Account of the Curse of a Ruined Man? THE following weird, uncanny inci- dent came in the experience of Mr. i . W. Evers, during his term of sheriff in the later sixties, when the county seat was at Perrysburg. The raving agony of Slater, crazed with his losses, his bit- terness in being ruined by a crime of which he was undoubtedly innocent, to- gether with the curse he pronounced upon the place and all connected with his downfall — these are the facts. The retri- bution that followed those connected with Slater's persecution and the calamitous incidents that have attached to the vicinity of Bairdstown, so strikingly de- scribed by the facile pen of Mr. Evers, strongly reminds one of Hamlet, when he says: "There arc more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreampt of in your philosophy." "Say, my boy," said an ex-sheriff to a reporter some years ago, "do you be- lieve in retribution through Providential agency here on this earth, for sins done by the sons of Adam? If you do, pos- SCKAP-BOOK. 131 siblj I can give you a partial solution to the serious misfortunes of our neighbors at Bairdstown." •'Explain and we'll see/' said the scribe. "Well, these Late calamities to the town and the mystery of their origin has set me to thinking of the place when there was no town there; and if one was in- clined to be superstitious it would not be very difficult to believe that evil spirits come back from the dominions of the dead and curse the haunts of living men with deeds of vengeance." But I'll give you the story as I recall it, and you may draw your own con- clusion-. Away back about the close of the war with Mexico, the quarter section of land where Bairdstown is, was owned by an old man named Jim Slater Old Jim was not considered very bright, or rather, some of his neighbors doubted at times if his mind — reason — was rightly balanced. He was rough and uncouth in manner, inclined to be irrit- able and violent, when he imagined he was being imposed upon; but with his family, worked hard, and lived poorly. In this uphill struggle, his wife, who was an estimable woman, far above Slater, sickened and died. Soon after this Slater's misfortunes began. William McMurray, a neighbor, put in a piece of wheat on Slater's land on shares. At harvesting, Slater objected to the grain being hauled off the farm for threshing. A sharp war of words and much feeling grew out of this trivial affair. Slater in his ungovernable anger, swore that the wheat would never do Ids neighbor any good. Possibly he took the case into justice court. I believe he did, and got non-suited or beaten. So the matter rested until some weeks later, when one night the wheat stacks were burned, and a new harness and some other articles were stolen from Mc- .Murray's or D. Wineland's barn, near by. Slater, who was not a favorite among In- neighbors, was of course set upon at once among the gossips, as the instigator, if not the direct agent in burning the stacks; all because of the constructive threat made. No other evidences could be found against him except that asser- tion, made in anger; and on this slender lb read and a good deal of prejudice, he was arrested, and tried before a justice, and I believe bound over to court. David Hays of Fostoria, who made some pretensions to a slight acquaintance with Blackstone, pettifogged Slater's case. At the next term of common pleas court, Slater was indicted; the late George Strain being the prosecuting at- torney. After heavy expense in lawyer fees and other ways, Slater was acquitted. David Hays and Dodge & Tyler defend- ed his case. Public sentiment was; divided as to Slater's guilt, and strangely too, McMur- ray, who with Slater was the loser by the fire, did not believe Slater guilty, though at a loss to explain the origin of the fire, which was clearly the work of an incen- diary. This prosecution, or persecution as Slater termed it. was (lie cause of Ids ruin. The lawyers got notes, secured by mortgages on his farm, and an old cred- it or in Tiffin, with a mortgage of four or five hundred dollars, got uneasy and began proceedings of foreclosure. This scared small creditors and they began a crusade in justice court against the un- fortunate man. probably on the old rule, "kick a man when he's down."' Slater Mini in li-ht them off. He was com- bative and Hays, bis lawyer, was a ready servant to help him, but alas ! in deeper, in nearly every instance. At last and not long either, the evil day came and the sheriff with an order of sale in which were marshaled all the liens, mine with appraisers to value the property. 1 can see Slater yet as be sat on a log near 132 THE PIONEER his cabin, sullen and dispirited while the appraisers near by were trying to fix upon a value. He scarcely spoke during the time we were there. He asked if he could take off the growing crops. He said he had not slept nights because of this trouble and the only hope he had was that none of the neighbors would bid on the farm when it was offered. The day of sale came. There was only one buyer. John Baird, a prosper- ous farmer, living some two miles from Slater's, bid in the land. A day or so after the sale, as I sat at the office table writing (this was while the court house was in Perry sburg) I heard a shuffling step at the door, at my back. I turned my head and said "Good morning, Mr. Slater!'' for it was he. He said nothing, but silently took a chair near the table. After a little he said, "Sheriff, did my place sell?" "Yes." -Who bought it?" I told him. He said, "I heard so, and came clear here to see if it was true." He dropped his head on his arm on the table and trembled as though suffering agonizing bodily pain. He did not speak for many minutes. I felt so much moved by his distress that I could scarcely go on with my work. I had from the first believed him innocent of the crime which brought this trouble on him. I had had little experience in detecting criminals, but from the first I felt that Slater was the unfortunate vic- tim of circumstances which almost com- pletely screened the real perpetrator of the crime, whoever it might be. After his agitation had subsided a little, I told him there was yet time to save his place — that he should not give it up so — tbat he could probably borrow money to cancel the judgment liens and secure the lender by a mortgage on the land as soon as the liens were off. That if these liens wore paid before the first day of court, the judge would not con- firm the sale. "No! No!" he said, "I cannot do it; 1 have no friends. All are down on me. No one has a good word for me; even my lawyer is against me; I am robbed of my place and driven from my home. There is no law, divine or human, that will justify this robbery. If there is a just God, he will curse the place to the last end of eternity as a warning. That farm will never do John Baird any good. He has been against me. He wanted my place; he has got it, and the curse of a wronged man goes with the place and all who have had a hand in robbing me." I do not pretend to give Slater's exact words, nor could I possibly give even a faint expression of his intense agitation, bitterness and despair. Words of encour- agement or kindness were alike useless. The fires of hope and ambition were quenched — drowned forever in his breast. James Slater died a pauper. He lies buried at the infirmary. On his old farm is Bairdstown. When the B. & 0. railroad located its line through there, John Baird with the enter- prise characteristic of himself, laid out a town and beside giving it his name, promoted the growth with all his energy. He built a fine flouring mill, hotel, etc., and the town grew rapidly." About this time misfortunes, one after another began to stop at Baird's door. His downward career, as did Slater's and as do most men's, commenced in litiga- tion. Law suit after law suit harrassed him. Creditors pressed him from every side. Judgments and executions dis- turbed his sleep until he did not know which way to turn. One or two of his sons became unsteady in habits, being a hindrance instead of a help to the father in his troubles. Next in the line of bad luck his fine mill burned, attributed at the time to incendiarism, the first I be- lieve in that line of calamities which later on have so frequently been visited upon the ill-fated town. Finally as if in sheer desperation at the bootless fight he SCRAP-BOOK. 133 was making against fate, Baird gathered up what little he could from the wreck, and taking his estimable wife and daugh- ter, went to Arkansas and engaged in hotel keeping. But fate still had mis- fortunes in store for him. His daughter sickened and died and later on the final blow, the loss of his beloved but heart- broken wife. Stripped of family and property, broken in spirit and bowed with age. Baird returned to Ohio, where with relatives, in the southern part of the state, if living, he makes his home. David I lavs. Slater's lawyer, fell, too, into hard lines. He was at one time the owner of much property, but fortune, ever fickle in her ways, turned against him and, like Baird, for a time he felt like "calling upon the rocks to cover him" from the clutch of remorseless cred- itors. But at the last, by a lucky turn in the tide — a sudden advance in some city property he owned — he reached shore with something saved from the wreck, though, in the meantime, he had the sad misfortune to lose his wife — a most worthy woman — who died bereft of her reason, her death having been preceded only a short time by that of their only daughter. George Strain, the prosecuting attor- ney who drew the indictment and prose- cuted Slater, went insane, later on, and died, afterwards in an insane asylum. What has been the fate of the jurors who indicted the unfortunate man, I have not inquired. In fact, I have not cared to pursue the unpleasant subject further, lest the truth might reveal a like sad state of affairs clear through. It is a little singular, too, that, with rare exceptions, nearly every enterprise, nearly every business man, no matter how worthy, starting in Bairdstown, has met with disaster or ill-success, sooner or later. The recent fires, from whatever mys- terious cause, are, to all appearances, but the greater culmination of misfortunes, of which previous ones have been as but muttering warning of the slumbering volcano beneath. It is but proper to state here upon the authority of Frank W. Dunn, who relat- ed the fact to me only a day or so since, that a woman now living in Kansas, but who lived near Slater at the time of the stack burning, wrote a full account of the burning and theft, to William McMur- ray before his death. Her statement corroborated as it was by circumstances, was doubtless true and was the first posi- tive testimony as to Slater's innocence of the crime. But it came too late. The woman as is well shown in her letter, had good reasons for not daring to reveal her story at the time. A TEN YEARS' STRUGGLE The Intense Strife in Removal of the County Seat Half a Century Ago IT has ever been the experience that in every instance involving the removal of a county seat from one locality to another, strife and opposition have been engendered, and the removal of the county seat from Perrysburg to Bowling Green was no exception to this fact. Probably no removal was ever productive of more intense feeling or more bitter denunciation on both sides in that memorable contest. Ananias held full sway, and to such an extent that enmi- ties were provoked and friendships es- tranged. For the time the prosperity of the county was measurably checked, and the turmoil tended to weaken the popu- 134 THE PIONEER lation morally, politically and financially as well. Fifty years have passed away since that time and many of our older citizens still remember that prolonged struggle. It began in 1865, and was uoi definitely and permanently sett Led until in the fall of 1875. The first election was held in 1860, and resulted in favor of the re- moval from Perrysburg to Bowling Green. The citizens of Bowling Green entered into a bond to build as good a court house and jail at Bowling Green as those at Perrysburg were a1 the time they were built, on condition that the material of the old buildings at Perrys- burg and the Lots on which they stood be given t" the removal interest. If the conditions wore fulfilled the county was not to be taxed for court house and jail. But the people were taxed, and under the following circumstances: The com- missioners stepped in and demanded to be beard as the guardians of the county's interests. They changed the location from the one chosen where the founda- tion could he Laid on the solid rock; the size of the court house, under their direc- tion, was also enlarged. They demanded thai the county required better and more commodious buildings than those' at Perrysburg. The removal interest adopt- ed the suggestions and demands of the county commissioners and built accord- ingly. The commissioners also demand- ed manv o h >r improvements and pro- posed to pay for the same out of the county treasury. They took into account the increasing business of a large, rich and rapidly developing county, and their action was taken after a conference with a number of the best and most judicious men of the county. None of these im- provements were contemplated by the signers of the bond. For those improve- ments the | | ile were taxed $3,006. The removal interest proceeded in good faith to carry out their pledge in the bond. When they were ready they made complete arrangements to carry the old material from Perrysburg to Bowling Green, but were then prevented by the court, invoked by the anti-removal inter- est, and they never received one cent from the sale of the property of the county at Perrysburg. Thus this condi- tion on which the bond hinged was not available. The auditor was then directed to adver- tise for bids under the authority of the commissioners, and an entire new jail was built for the contract price of $14,596, which was $494 less than the Bowling Green bond, and much less than the esti- mate made of the county buildings at Perrysburg. Thus there was no bad faith whatever on the part of the removal interest as was charged in the heat of that contest. Judge Phelps, probate judge, removed his office from Perrysburg as soon as the court house at Bowling Green was ready, transacting business there a year or more lie To re the other offices were removed in 1870. The year following the court house was destroyed by fire, but after considerable Litigation an enabling act was secured to give the people another opportunity to vote on the removal question, this time to take the county offices back to Perrys- burg. The Perrysburg interest had re- built their court house more substantial and in better condition than ever, and the vote on removal was again taken on the 12th of October, 1875. It resulted in a large vote throughout the county — it. may be said an extraordi- narily large vote — but the vote in Perrys- burg capped the climax. Out of a vote that would be a large one at 1,000, the ballot box, when opened, revealed the number of ballots cast in favor of re- moval— 3, 316 ! The vote on governor at that election was very close, and when Ezra S. Dodd, of Toledo, heard of Perrysburg's vote, he at once sent a telegram to John G. SC1LYP-B00K. 135 Thompson, chairman of the Democratic state executive committee asking, "Would 1,000 from Wood be of any good?" That has now passed into quite a familiar phrase. Mr. Dodd Left Toledo as soon as he sent the telegram, and it was surmised by the chairman of the Republican execu- tive committee in Toledo, Pev. Robert McCune, that Dodd had struck out for Bowling Green. Accordingly the writer with George S. Canfield, was dispatched to Bowling Green, leaving Toledo al 1 1 o'clock that night in a disagreeable rain. We remained until the votes were all received, but Dodd had not put in an appearance. The vote of Perry sburg was thrown out without much ceremony, and the vote against removal proved to be a large, unmistakable majority. Thus ended that memorable struggle, and the present prosperity of Wood county strongly affirms the wisdom of that decision by the people. CAPT. DAVID WILKINSON One of the Veteran Steamboat Pioneers of the Maumee Vallev ON Monday, September 8, 1873, at his residence in Perrysburg, Cap- tain David Wilkinson, in the 74th year of his age, passed away. The relatives and a very large circle of friends were called upon to mourn the loss of another pioneer of the Maumee valley. A few days before Mr. Wilkinson was visited with a stroke of paralysis which affected his left side and rendered him helpless and almost insensible, in which condition he remained until death had relieved him from his suffering. His wife and five children were all present during his last moments. The funeral services took place from his late residence on Front street, and were conducted by the members of Phoe- nix Lodge No. 123, Free and Accepted Masons, of which lodge he was a charter member. The Rev. (J. A. Adams offici- ated as chaplain. The remains were followed to the cemetery by a very large concourse of relatives and friends, and were deposited in the grave with the accustomed Masonic honors. The editors of the Toledo Blade and Commercial were familiar with the early history of the deceased, and the following extracts are taken from the eulogy of each. From the Blade. — One by one the pio- neers of the Maumee valley are passing away, and today there are few left to relate the incidents and struggles through which the early settlers of this now fer- tile and prosperous section of the state, were called to pass. Yesterday (Mon- day) closed the life of another one of those who lived to see their hopes respect- ing the Maumee valley more than real- ized. Captain David Wilkinson of Per- rysburg, is no more. The captain was born in February, 1800, at or near Buf- falo, and the writer of this has often heard him speak of the • ,; i: - in the village of Buffalo during the war of 1812. At an early age he went upon the lake as a sailor, and in 1815 he sailed up the Maumee river on the schooner Black Snake, commanded by his uncle, Jacob Wilkinson. This was a small craft to venture upon the lake, being of but twenty-five tons burden. At that time, where Perrysburg now stands, noth- ing but a wild fores! was to be seen. This little schooner as we learn from a memorandum furnished by (apt. Wilkin- son to H. S. Knapp, Esq., for his history of the Maumee valley, brought up as passengers the family of Mulhollen, who kept the noted tavern at Vienna some 136 THE PIONEER years later, also a Mr. Hunter and family, Scott Kobb, and a Mr. Hopkins, who settled on land above the present village of Perrysburg. At that time, Fort Meigs contained about forty sol- diers, who were taken to Detroit by the s< hooner on her return trip. From the Commercial. — The deceased was in his I Ith year, having been born in the year 1800. His first advent to the Maumee valley was in 1815, as a hand on board the schooner Black Snake, a craft of about 25 tons, commanded by Jacob Wilkinson, an uncle, which brought sev- o'clock we heard some one hallooing in the distance. I told the boys of the incident of the morn- ing— that two girls had rode over to Badger's, which was about two miles from our place. Carothers at once said, "that is surely a woman's voice'*; we started at once for ihe prairie, taking with us our two well trained dogs. When we got through the woods to the prairie we could hear the cries, hut very 160 THE PIONEEB indistinctly, away to the east of us; we shouted so lustily that we made ourselves heard plainly by the lost wanderer, who at once turned back toward us. Soon the dogs were barking, away out in the gloomy waste in a somewhat dif- ferent direction. When Lewis and Carothers got to them, they found the intelligent brutes had done their part well and faithfully. As if guided by some in- stinct, almost providential, in this case, the dogs in some unexplained, or I should say unexplainable way, had understood what we wanted them to do and had done it, thereby saving a human life. There, in a grassless spot, in the oozy mire and water, her head barely above the slimy surface, speechless and exhaust- ed, was one of the girls — the one from New York. She probably could not have survived an hour longer. I need not re- late our difficulties in getting the poor girl out for she was perfectly helpless to walk for sometime, even if she had been on good ground. Soon after, Stella, whose shouts had first warned us of their danger, was found, and not long after, brother John and I and the dogs found the horses, grazing in a place where the water was shallow, and got them out to the woods. Stella then told us how it all happen- ed: They had prolonged their stay at Badger's until quite late and then to gain time had attempted to make a short cut by the Indian trail to our house. The trail crossed a neck of prairie about half a mile wide; it was here they lost their course and went too far east. The prairie, at that time of the year, was wet in those days; no one who has not seen the Wadsworth, or Liberty prairie as we sometimes called it, in its natural state, before our drainage system went into effect, can form any true conception of its condition, nor picture to himself the magnitude of the change since. The water was from one to three feet deep, the grass from three to eight feet high ; a great part of the prairie was swampy. It was infested with all sorts of beasts, birds and reptiles common to this country at that time. Wolves, snakes, turtles, frogs, cranes, pumpers, deer flies and last, but worst in early summer, were the end- less swarms of ravenous mosquitoes. Then the heavy fogs which curtained this gloomy wilderness made the aspect so dismal and forbidding that the strongest man might well recoil from its treacher- ous borders. Xot long after the horses left the trail, they began to swamp down and the riders were unseated from their saddles with no possibility of mounting, even if it had been desirable to do so. In attempting to lead the horses the girls had their skirts trod on and torn off at the waist and were in danger themselves of being tramped into the mire by the floundering animals. By this time they had worked so far east as to be in about the worst part of the swamp, probably not far west of the notorious "Stoga Hole." Here the New- York girl gave up to die. Stella left her friend and the horses and started as she supposed in the direction of her brothers cabin; but how could a woman, wading in water to her knees, in coarse rank grass higher than her head, blinded by mos- quitoes and fog, take a course without a single landmark to guide her ? She could not even see the woods that bordered the swamp. Fortunately she steered to the woods on the north side, but in a direc- tion almost opposite from what she had intended, and came out about three- fourths of a mile from our house, where she was wandering about when her screams attracted our attention as prev- iously mentioned. After we all got to- gether on dry ground, the girls, whose deplorable plight was mercifully shielded by the darkness, pleaded with us to be taken to the Badger cabin, but we per- suaded them to go to our house nearer by, where they were taken in hand by SCRAP-BOOK. 161 the women, made as comfortable as pos- sible, and next morning were able to con- tinue their journey home. One of those girls of nearly half a century ago, Stella, married Dr. Stephen Olney, brother of Professor Edward Olney, of Michigan university, and at tins time, 181)4, is living in widowhood in one of the thriving cities of New Jersey. Her rosy checks of yore are faded; her dark hair long since has turned gray; the voice that was strong enough to carry its pitiful appeal through the Cimmerian darkness for help nearly a mile away, is feeble now; memory too fails, but not the remembrance of that dreadful night experience in the "Black Swamp'" of Wood county. In thus imperfectly giving the details of this and other incidents, I have sought to also convey to the younger generation a dim, outline picture of the country as the pioneers first found it; also some of the inconveniences and hardships met with. Each passing day and year in our lives lias its sore trials, mingled with its sunshine and joy. Each country has its drawbacks, but I think now, in looking back over my three score years' experience, and that of my old neighbors here, that Wood county's early settlers had more than their full share of trials. The county was too, from causes only slightly alluded to in this narration, in very bad repute. This bad name followed it hurt- fully for. years after, and kept improve- ments back until many fell, weary and discouraged in the conflict. But all honor to the old pioneers, and the new ones too; it is different now. Wood coun- ty is, at last, the first; and the miry swamp, where we found the lost girls, groans each recurring autumn under its load of golden grain; and the successors of those first pioneers would hesitate to swap situations with the most favored husbandmen in the land. THE OLD EXCHANGE BELL Something of Its History and What Became of It ACOPPESPONDENT of the Elmore Independent says that in the year 1832 or 1833, Mr. Jarvis Spafford built a hotel in Perrysburg, and it was a very fine hotel — even a model one in those davs. In order to make it complete he had to have a bell on top of the house. There happened to be a man by the name of S. Davis who had a bell foundry in Detroit, Mich., then Michigan Territory. Mr. Spafford went to Detroit, saw Mr. Davis and made a contract to cast him a tavern bell. For want of material to make a bell the desired size, Mr. Spafford put in .'!y local subscription. rldie last tribe of Indians to remove from Ohio was the Wyandot of Fpper- Sandusky, who ceded their lands in is Pi, and the following year left for ihe west. 170 THE PIONEER BURNING OFF A PRAIRIE How the Flames Swept the Grass for Many Miles HERE is an incident in Middleton township history published in the Sentinel in 1883: James Eobertson came from Scotland and located in the eastern part of Mid- dleton township in 1836. One morning after he had selected the land for his future home, Mr. Eobertson and two of his sons started from Perrysburg for their land for the purpose of selecting a build- ing site, with a horse and wagon, hauling a tenl and some other material. They came by a blazed wagon track and pitched their tent in the edge of -Hull's Prairie, arriving just at sundown. About 15 minutes after they had arrived at their destination they were startled by the sudden appearance of five Indians on horseback, who had followed up their trail, and 'the Indians seemed as much surprised as they. After surveying the situation a moment the Indians gave the Robertsons to understand their mission was to "scotto," that is to burn off the prairie. They then proceeded about three miles to the southwest, touched fire to the grass which had not been burned for two years. The flames spread like the wind and Mr. Amelius Eobertson states that it did not seem over ten minutes before it had traveled the in- tervening distance between where it was set and the edge of the woods where they were encamped, and that the smoke al- most suffocated them in their tent. He also says that the flames went nearly as high as the trees, and that the streets of Perrysburg 5 1-2 miles distant were so lighted by the fire that they could see to pick up a pin, and that all the grass on Hull Prairie covering hundreds of acres, was licked up by the flames in twenty minutes. Mr. Robertson built a cabin on his land the next spring, 1837, and moved in with his family. A HUNTER'S PARADISE Forests of the Black Swamp Abounded in Game How a Savage Old Boar Was Captured I A' a communication to the Tribune, Mr. J. F. Dubbs says: Wild hogs were very plentiful in the forests, hut while they afforded the set- tlers a temporary resource at times, to replenish the pork barrel, they were at other times not only troublesome, but dangerous neighbors. They would mingle with tame hogs in the woods and toll them away often, where the tame ones would soon be as wild as their forest kin. Then too, if man or beast should sud- denly come upon a band and disturb them in their bed or disturb the young, every hog would instantly become a savage, bristling, furious assailant and the intruder was lucky if he happened to be near a tree which he could climb quickly. Among the bands that roamed the woods was one enormous Savage Old Boar With murderous tusks, which was alike a terror to hunters and dogs. This dan- gerous brute — a veritable king of the forests — was as wily and cunning as a hear, hut like all kings and rulers, all his ways were not the paths of wisdom. He got a notion of slipping in nights and lodging with the Dubbs herd till the chickens crowed in the morning, when he would rise, shake himself and join his wild brethren in the forest. Idle Dubbs discovered what was iroiiig; -SCUAP-BOOK. 171 on, and at the time there was quite a strife in the settlement as to who should be the lucky captor of the big boar. One morning the Dubbs, father and sons, with their two dogs, stole a march on the old woods patriarch, and as he passed out the dogs were turned loose, and after a sharp race his hogship came to bay and faced the dogs. When the men came up the brute again fled, but the dogs at once fastened on him; one dog laid hold at the elbow of the fore shoulder; the other at the ear; the latter was instantly hurled into the air with a ghastly slash across its throat from which the blood poured in a stream. The other dog, a powerful fellow, was able to stop the boar, and the brute could not reach him with its deadly tusks. Neatly Captured By this time, Henry Dubbs, James' father, a stout resolute man, came up, furious at the fate of his faithful dog, and seized the boar by its long tail and at once look a turn around a small sap- ling where ho could easily hold the hog. The plan was to capture, confine and feed the boar until he was fat; at that tiniL' Mr. Dubbs' son, John, came up, the hog was tied and thrown, his nose Lashed, liis tusks cut oil', after which he was hauled in on a stone boat, and im- prisoned in a high, strong log pen. When he Found he could not escape, his gnashing of teeth and hideous aspect was startling to witness, but in all the scrap from first to last not a cry or squeal did he make, except enraged grunts. For days the old fellow would not eat; then he would eat in the night. At last he began to gain, and though when butchered and sold at Perrysburg he was not fat, yet he was a monstrous big porker. These wild hogs are supposed to have sprung from strays from some of the army quartermasters' droves brought here in the war of 1812. They were quite numerous here from 1830 to 1842. REMOVING THE INDIANS Gathered from Many Points Mission Station on the Maumee River AN old pioneer, writing to the Sen- tinel, says: Between the years 1835-40, the Govern- ment began to move the Indians to their reservations in the West and the tribes becoming broken up, were scattered over a large portion of Northwestern Ohio and Northeastern Indiana, and part of Michigan, reaching from Ft. Wayne, In- diana, to Sandusky, Ohio, and including Crawford county, which was named after Colonel Crawford who was so brutally butchered and murdered at the stake by Simon Girty (a white man), after having been deserted and left by General Knight, who made his escape and left Colonel Crawford to suffer because of his, Knight's, treachery. The tribes and parts of tribes that used to inhabit this part of the country, were the Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Kiek- apoos, Shawnees, Wyandots and Miamis. After General Harrison's victory at Fort Meigs, and the treaty was effected and peace was declared again, many of them remained and they were considered friendly, and indeed were so as the old settlers well know. A mission station was made on the Maumee river; Rev. [saac Van Tassel was sent as a mission- ary to preach to them, and I believe he taught school among them for a while. The largest settlement as I remember, was in Sandusky county, and the largest in Wood county was at the station and 172 THE PIONEER at Tontogany, which is ;in Indian name and I think named after one of their chirrs. They had one small settlement on Beaver creek in Henry county, and a few stragglers were camped for a while in Milton township, this county. In the fall they would go from their camps in Sandusky. Seneca and Wyandot counties, to Wood and Henry counties to camp out for the winter and hunt, and when the spring would open they would return again with their pelts and furs taken during the winter season. In the sum- mer they would resort to the rivers and lakes where they could fish, that being their favorite and principal diet during lh' summer months. H. L. Hosmer's Account The remnant of the Maumee Ottawas were at this time assembled at Button- wood island, a mile above Perrysburg, preparatory to removal to the country as- signed them west of the Mississippi. Robert A. Forsyth was entrusted by the Government with the undertaking. The Indians made a pleasant camp on the island for a month or more, and were visited daily by the citizens of the towns below. They had been sadly demoralized by intercourse with the whites; but a few of their chiefs and leaders retained enough of the old ancestral spirit to in- spire them with considerable energy and enterprise after they were settled in their new home. Ottoca, the head chief, was a fat, good-natured fellow, a favorite with his tribe and very social with the whites. His half-brother, Noteno, was greatly his superior in executive ability, and at this time probably the most in- telligent man among them. Petonguet, a tall, slender graceful man, with fea- tures of a Roman east had been the hero of a tragedy some years before in the neighborhood of Roche de Boeuf. He was much esteemed for hravery and very popular with his tribe. But a hundred in all remained of this once powerful people, and they were "like strangers in a desert home." A day or two after the tornado, Ottoca, while passing the ruins of the hotel, remarked, with significant Livsticulation: "White man's shanty — no good — too big — he all whish when the big wind come.*' After their removal these Indians aban- doned their habits of savage life, engaged in agriculture, adopted civilized customs, and became a substantial, orderly com- munity. They accumulated property, erected schools and churches, and to-day I believe they are regarded by the people of Kansas as among their most quiet, law-abiding citizens. Rev. Peter Jones was their leading clergyman, and he was a lineal descendant of Pontiac, who little more than a century before was King of all the country from the Maumee to .Mackinaw, and disputed inch by inch its s 'tt lenient by the whites. NAVIGATION Ship Building at an Early Date on the River at Maumee and Perrysburg AT a Pioneers' meeting held at Fort Meigs, in 1880, Charles E. Bliven gave an address, from which we glean the following facts regarding ship build- ing on the Maumee river. He says : A small steamer, called the Phenome- non, remodeled from a canal boat, was built at Rochester, N. Y., in 1834, and brought, to the Maumee river, being towed through Lake Erie in 1836. She was then called the Sun and was com- manded by Capt. C. K. Bennett. Old records reveal the fact that many vessels were built on the Maumee river. Among them the Detroit, 240 tons, was BURIAL GROUND OF COL. DUDLEY AND HIS MEN On May II, 1813, the Bodies of Col. Dudley and About 130 Kentuckians Were Brought to Ft. Meigs and There Buried. They Were Massacred Six Days Before SCKAP-BOOK. L75 built al Toledo in L834; Don Quixote, 80 tons, in L836; [ndiana, l-">l Ions, in 1839. At Delaware creek, the Chesapeake, 410 tons, in 1838. At Maumee vessels were built as fol- lows: Miami, in L838; Gen. Harrison, 293 tons, in L839; James Wolcott, 80 tons, in is in; St. Troy, 547 tons, in 1845; G. P. Griffith, 587 tons, in 184G; Albion. 132 Ions, in 1848; Minnesota, 749 tons, in 1851-2; Globe, .".so tons, in 1843. At Perrysbiirg the following were built: Commodore Perry, 382 tons, in is;; |; Anthony Wayne, 390 tons, in 1837; Wabash, 44 tons, and Marshall, 51 tons, in 1838; Gen. Vance, 75 tons, in 1839; St. Louis, 618 tons, in 1844; Superior, 507 tons, in 1845; John Hollis- fcer, 300 tons, in L848; Samson, the first propeller built on Lake Erie, 250 tons, in L842; Princeton, in L854, and the Maumee Valley, in L862-3, which was the Last vessel built there. The Griffith, built at Perrysburg, it will be remembered by our older citizens, wiis destroyed by fire on the lake, and a number of her passengers perished in the disaster. FREEDOM TOWNSHIP Names of Early Settlers Township Organ- ized and Named by Hiram Pember IN the year 1833, Isaac Cable and his three sons, Silas, Benjamin and Jonathan, also Michae] Miller and Michael Myers, from near Canton, Stark county, Ohio, settled at New Rochester. Almost, at the same time a party of settlers, among whom were Henry Nail- er. Michael N. Myers, Christian Shelley, Ashae] Towers, Henry Hahn, and several others came in from Lorain county and settled at Pemberville and above on the north fork of the river. Most of the lands below the forks had been bought up by speculators, but most of the settlers at that time, could get good Lands near the river at government price, $1.25 per acre. Wood county was at that time in the Delaware land dis- triei. The Pembers came the next year. • lame- Pember bad previously married the daughter of Ashae! Towers, which circumstance, no doubt, was the cause of his locating in Wood county, as his father-in-law was the chief landed pro- prietor of what is now Pemberville. They encountered untold hardships at first, and indeed for a long time, chills, shaking ague and intermittent fevers visited them each year, and at times there were not enough persons in the settlement to take care of the sick. But still they hoped for a better day, and kept courage and faith. Late in the fall of 1834, there were barely enough able abodied men to raise a log school house at the Forks. At this raising, a petition was drawn up and signed, asking the commissioners for a separate township organization. Mr. 1 1 i iM in Pember, who now lives in Pem- berville, and whom we hope may be spared many years yet, gave the town- ship its name. At the following December session, t be commissioners, Guy Nearing, James Wilkinson and John Pray, and John C. Spink, Auditor, beard the petition, and ordered the township set off in a separ- ate organization, and that an election be held al the house of Michael \. Myers, the first Monday of the following April. Freedom at that time was a part of Per- rysburg township. It is in date of organ- i/ai ion, the sixth township in the county. Troy and Montgomery townships were organized at the same time, and held their first election on the same day. — O. W. Bvers in Log Cabin Sketches. 17